LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL 

ASTRONOMER AND GENERAL 



A BIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE 



BY HIS SON 

/ 

F. A. MITCHEL 




Copyright, 1887, 
By F. A. MITCIIEL. 

All rights reserved. 



1 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge : 
Eiectrotyped and Printed by II. 0. Houghton & 



PBEFACE. 



At the time of General Mitchel's death an at- 
tempt was made to give to his countrymen an author- 
ized account of his services in science and in the 
army. But the selection and arrangement of the 
material for the biographer was in itself an impor- 
tant feature, and there was then no one of his family 
sufficiently experienced to do the work. Besides, 
while his scientific record could have been given then 
as well as now, an account of his brief military 
career could not at that time have been written in- 
telligently. He died before the work of suppressing 
the rebellion was half finished, during that earlier, 
darker period of the struggle when the nation was 
at its greatest peril, and was still groping for some 
strong, clear intellect to take the guidance of its 
armies, and bring order out of chaos. 

This was no time to write war history. The 
events of that period must first be mellowed by dis- 
tance ; light must be thrown on the condition of that 
portion of the country then in rebellion, and hedged 
in by an impenetrable barrier of bayonets; twenty 
years of peace must elapse, with a continued flow of 



PREFACE. 



records of both sides into the War Department of the 
United States to be published for general informa- 
tion. And not till now, a quarter of a century after 
the events occurred, are we sufficiently enlightened 
to give the part General Mitchel took in the struggle, 
even though it were, comparatively, a mere para- 
graph in the history of the war for the Union. 

At the commencement it was my intention to 
gather such documents as would in themselves form 
a continued narrative, — a sort of autobiography. 
This was found to be impossible. There were fre- 
quent gaps, and the manuscripts required careful 
editing. But so far as has been practicable, the 
original plan has been adhered to, and the story given 
in General Mitchel's own words wherever it could 
be done without serious detriment. 

The search for and blending of these records, and 
the study of the testimony of others inextricably in- 
ter woven with them, has taken up a great deal of my 
time at intervals during the past five years. The 
portion relating to scientific work, though extending 
over a far greater period, was comparatively easy 
writing. But as volume after volume of war history 
has successively appeared, I have been obliged to 
go over the military portion and make such slight 
changes as would accord with the new light. The 
completion of the publication of the official records 
of the War Department to the end of the year 1862, 
when General Mitchel died, probably renders any 
further change unnecessary. 



PREFACE. 



V 



I would prefer that this work had fallen into abler 
hands. Another might have given a more attractive 
view, but I am convinced that few could have spared 
the time and taken the trouble for the search and 
study required to give a faithful and correct one. 

F. A. MITCHEL. 

East Orange, N. J., 

November 4, 1887. 



CONTENTS, 



PART L SCIENCE. 

PAGE 

L Wilderness 1 

EL First Independence 11 

m. Cadet 19 

IV. Traits 25 

V. Love 32 

VI. Engineer a>d Professor 41 

VII. The CmcamrATi Observatory. A Beginning- . 49 

VIII. A Stage-Coach Journey 5S 

IX. Washington- 62 

X. A President's Promise 6S 

XI. By the Way 73 

XII. Ocean 79 

XIII. London S9 

XIV. Greenwich and Windsor 98 

XV. Camden Hue 105 

XVI. Arago 114 

XVIL The Goad . . .123 

XVIII. The Rudiments 133 

XIX. The First Watch-Tower 141 

XX. Corner-Stone 147 

XXI. Finished and Equipped 153 

XXII. Lectures. — Recommendations .... 159 

XXIII. First Observations 168 

XXIV. Observatory Life 176 

XXV. Fortune 183 

XXVT. Last Days at Cincinnati 189 

XXVTI Farewell Lectures 194 

XXVIII. The Red Planet 200 



vni CONTENTS. 



PART II. WAR. 



I. Change . . . . . . . .205 

II. Cincinnati . 210 

III. A Limited Department 220 

IV. A Proposed Movement 226 

V. Kentucky . . . . . . . . .236 

VI. Bowling Green and Nashville . . . . 244 
VII. Episodes of War 253 

VIII. MURFREESBORO 266 

IX. Huntsville . . 273 

X. The Locomotive Chase 289 

XI. TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT . . . . . . 302 

XII. Holding the Ground ...... 315 

XIII. Ways and Means . 325 

XIV. Chattanooga 330 

XV. General Buell at Huntsville .... 339 

XVI. Waiting Orders . . . ... . 349 

XVII. Department of the South . . . . 358 

XVIII. A Reconnoissance in Force 371 

XIX. Death . . . . . . . . . .378 



OMSBY MACKMGHT MITCHEL. 



PART I. SCIENCE. 



I. 

WILDERNESS. 

On a bright spring morning more than eighty 
years ago — it was the 1st of April, 1804 — the 
wagons of a party moving westward lumbered over 
a road which led from Hampshire County, Virginia, 
to the Ohio River. At the head of the train, on 
horseback, rode a man whose constant supervision 
marked him as the leader. Beside him rode his wife, 
a small, delicate woman, and their daughter, a young 
girl of perhaps eighteen or twenty years of age, both 
mounted on small, easy-going horses. There were 
two wagons, the one drawn by five and the other by 
four horses, and each driven by a negro slave. Others, 
among them the sons of the couple who rode at the 
head, some of them nearly grown to manhood, 
trudged along on foot ; while the little children were 
snugly stowed away in the wagons. 

John Mitchel, the leader, had long been a promi- 
nent citizen of Hampshire County. He was of 
Scotch-Irish descent, a man of fine physical propor- 
tions, and his motions rapid and energetic. He was 
gifted with a fine mind, and well educated for that 
day. He had been justice of the peace, and colonel 



2 



OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



of the militia. His profession, like that of his an- 
cestors, as far back as can be traced, was surveyor. 
He was especially noted for his kind and charitable 
heart. He married early in life Elizabeth MacAlis- 
ter, of good Scotch stock, with whom he lived an ex- 
ceptionally happy life. A large family of children 
sprang up about them, and at the time this narrative 
commences, the older ones, as has been said, were 
nearly grown. 

The family had lived contentedly on their land in 
Virginia until new territory, lying further west, be- 
gan to be opened, and the virgin soil, far more easily 
and cheaply worked, rendered their stony ground 
nearly valueless. Seeing his property day by day 
depreciating, the head of the family resolved to seek 
a new home where the country was in a progressive 
instead of a retrograde condition. 

Having sold his effects, except such articles as 
could be best transported, with his own family, and 
that of a neighbor who had decided to join him, he 
set out for Kentucky, where numbers of Virginians 
were at that time going to seek new homes. The 
party wended their way towards the Ohio River, 
where they expected to embark for the Kentucky 
shore. They toiled slowly over the mountains which 
intervene between their old homestead and the river, 
subject to occasional mishaps such as the overturning 
or breaking down of a wagon, till they arrived, on 
the first evening of their journey, at a little town 
called Frankfort. Here they spent the night. 

In the morning, after everything was in readiness 
to proceed, the expedition was thrown into a state of 
consternation at finding that the eldest daughter in 
the accompanying family was missing. Her lover, 



WILDERNESS. 



3 



not relishing her removal, had raided the train and 
carried her off. The mother was loud in her lamen- 
tations, but they were of no avail ; the marriage cer- 
emony had been performed before daylight, and the 
party were obliged to proceed without the damsel. 

Nor was this the last trial of the kind that they 
were subjected to. The removal of so many young 
girls from the country produced a flutter which did 
not subside until the party were well away from their 
native State. A cousin suddenly joined them and 
rode on in front by the side of the pioneer's eldest 
daughter. Coming to a fork in the road, he drew 
rein, and there gave the maiden her choice of going 
on to a wilderness, or riding with him to Gretna 
Green. The firmness of the girl, who preferred to 
stand by her parents in their new home in the west, 
withstood the lover's blandishments, and he was suf- 
fered to ride away alone. 

The party arrived at Redstone, now Brownville, 
on the Ohio River, without further mishap or fem- 
inine loss. Here they found a large flat-boat ready 
for them (steam had not yet been introduced), which 
had been bespoken the previous autumn. 

Pushing out into the stream they commenoed a 
slow descent with the current of La Belle Riviere, 
with her bluffs, her bottoms of mammoth timber, and 
islands, at that season clothed in flowers ; past Pitts- 
burgh, past Blennerhassett's Island with its weeping- 
willows, Marietta, and other settlements. Cincinnati 
was then a small village. When they came to Louis- 
ville it was night, and, being unable to effect a land- 
ing, were in terror lest they should be swept over the 
falls and swamped. It was a long and anxious night, 
during which each moment they drew nearer the 



4 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



dreaded falls. Bat morning fortunately dawned in 
time, and they were enabled to reach the shore. 

On Sunday, the 1st of May, one month after his 
departure from Virginia, the pioneer tied his boat to 
the shore at the mouth of Highland Creek, now the 
dividing line between Henderson and Union coun- 
cies, Kentucky. They had passed the settlements of 
Virginians higher up the river, and floated on to the 
extreme verge of civilization. Looking out from 
their boat that Sunday morning, the prospect was 
anything but encouraging. There was the river, and 
the forest, but little else. Word soon reached some 
settlers near by that a new family had arrived at the 
mouth of Highland Creek, and several woodsmen, 
who were to be their neighbors, called to pay their 
respects. They produced a distressing impression, 
especially on the more delicate women, dressed as 
they were in hunting-shirts, and armed to the teeth. 
It has been said by a family chronicler who witnessed 
the ceremony of this first visit, that the pioneer then 
realized the position in which he had placed his fam- 
ily. His heart sank within him, and he was never 
the same man afterwards. 

Learning of an unoccupied cabin some six miles 
further down the river, they dropped down there 
the next day. Here they landed and took possession 
of the sorry abode. Additions were built, ground 
cleared, and preparations made to spend the summer. 

If the few people inhabiting Kentucky at that time 
were rough and uncouth, the face of nature was very 
beautiful. The forest trees shot up to an immense 
height. The wild rye, peavine, and other herbage 
were interspersed with various flowers ; while the 
woods were vocal with the songs of birds, among 



WILDERNESS. 



5 



which the piping of the American mocking-bird rang 
clearest. The country teemed with deer, bear, and 
wild turkeys. A lake near by furnished an abun- 
dance of fish. Grapes, blackberries, persimmons, 
wild cherries, mulberries, nuts of various kinds, es- 
pecially the pecan, were to be found in every direc- 
tion. In the rear of the cabin a chain of ponds 
extended for miles up and down the river. These 
ponds were frequented by large flocks of aquatic 
birds, from the most diminutive snipe to the tallest 
crane. In the fall, wild geese and brants came there 
morning and evening, filling the air with their quack- 
ing. Pelicans and swans visited the river, but seemed 
to regard themselves too high-born to mingle with 
their more common neighbors of the ponds. 

The pioneer purchased a plantation, or rather what 
he proposed to make a plantation, eight miles in the 
interior, at what is now Morganfield, in Union 
County. During the summer he proceeded with his 
boys and his negroes to erect the necessary buildings 
for the reception of his family. On his return he 
found that an enemy had stolen in during his absence. 
The fever and ague — the first obstacle usually thrown 
out to resist the advance of civilization, and especially 
effective in these regions so rich in alluvial deposits 
and the debris of countless years of vegetation — had 
invaded his home, and had prostrated the little col- 
ony, both white and black. 

In October he removed them to the new home. 
The sick recovered, and the work of preparation for 
the coming season commenced. Here, on July 28, 
1809, the subject of this sketch was born. Daniel 
Mitchel, a brother some twenty years older, long 
afterwards wrote a series of letters to the then new- 



6 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



comer, giving him an account of this early history of 
the family. In speaking of this event he says : — 

UpoD returning from a journey I learned that during 
my absence a very small but brilliant star had been discov- 
ered on the domestic horizon. Upon seeing it myself, I 
recognized a little brother that I took into my heart of 
hearts, where he has kept his place to the .present moment. 

It was soon after the birth of his youngest, his 
last child, that the pioneer made an effort — it proved 
a final one — to relieve his family from the necessity 
of remaining in a wilderness by attempting to find a 
fortune in the ground. Two miles from where he 
first opened his plantation was a place called the 
Chester Salt Licks, from there being many places 
which had been excavated in former years or ages 
by the buffalo. From this point down a small stream 
to Highland Creek, and down Highland Creek for 
some miles, were numerous licks. The ground around 
these licks, and between them, the buffalo had so 
trodden that trees were prevented from growing; 
but here and there were scattered many patches of 
hazel and blackberry bushes, together with the wild 
multiflora rose, and a variety of humbler flowers. 
Between these patches were carpets of beautiful^ 
green blue-grass. The planter sank a well among 
these licks with the hope of finding an abundance of 
salt water. He spent considerable time and money 
on the venture, but it was all in vain. His well was 
on the bank of Highland Creek, and despite his 
efforts, fresh water would pour in. He became dis- 
couraged, abandoned his well, and made no further 
effort to acquire a sudden fortune. 

Though in a wilderness, he passed much time in 
study. He was fond of languages, and of mathemat- 



WILDERNESS. 



7 



ics and astronomy. The last summer of his life was 
spent in 'the study of Greek, having only a grammar 
and the Greek Testament for text-books. One day 
in the following December, while making a survey at 
some distance from his home, he noticed a coming 
storm. He strove to reach his house before it broke. 
In the effort he became greatly overheated and ex- 
hausted. After a restless night he was found in the 
morning to be hopelessly paralyzed. 

He lay through the winter helpless and despond- 
ent. In March the wild flowers which grew so 
luxuriant in Kentucky were in full bloom. The 
child that had lately come to him would go out and 
gather them, and, bringing them into his father's 
room, would push a chair to the bedside, climb 
up, and put the flowers in his hand. This would 
cause a transient smile to cross the sad face. Before 
the spring passed into summer the father died. 

It was at this period of hardship, disappointment, 
and affliction, that the child received his first impres- 
sions. The bright, happy period of childhood never 
came for him. Buried in the depths of a wilderness, 
many years younger than any of his brothers and 
sisters, with no playmates, without the means of 
amusement usual to children, the first six years of 
his life were passed in solitude. The sounds to which 
he listened were such as come from the depths of a 
forest. The little brain, unrelieved by toys and pic- 
ture-books, was early drawn to notice natural objects, 
and found food for thought in the great trees tower- 
ing about him, the clouds sailing over their tops, and 
the quiet heavens still beyond. 

This is no fancy picture. An incident has been 
mentioned by the older brother in one of the letters 



8 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



written years after, which shows the kind of thought 
that occupied the child's mind. 

It was in the month of flowers. The spring opens six 
weeks sooner in the Green River Country than in Ohio. 
It was evening, and I took you in my arms and walked 

into the front yard. Brother P r followed, and we 

stopped, he standing by my right side. The evening was 
exceedingly beautiful. The air was fresh and balmy, laden 
with the rich odors of ten thousand flowers. The birds 
had finished their vesper concert, and, head under wing, 
were hushed to rest. Some of the insect tribe were still 
in motion, among which might be heard the bellicose cricket 
and the tale-bearing katydid. When I spoke of the birds, 
I should have excepted the owl, sacred to Minerva. He 
might have been heard in the forest hooting his discordant 
notes to please his harpy-faced paramour. The wild beasts 
of the forest had lain down to rest — all except a few 
depredators, such as the wolf, the fox, and the opossum, 
and a few others who make night a foraging time. We 
were standing, as I said, — the two brothers: you on my 
left were gazing into the vast expanse, our vision somewhat 
obstructed by the density of the forest. The moon was 
careering across the spacious concave decked in a robe of 
ethereal blue sprinkled with thousands of gold and silver 
stars, and seeming to rejoice in her magnificent beauty as 
Queen of Night, and regulator of the ebbing and flowing 
tides. There was nothing said for some time. You were 
gazing with the deepest intensity at the heavens lit up with 
such a flood of glory, when, turning your head slowly, you 
fastened your eyes on mine. You appeared to be moved 
by some deep momentous thought. With the apparent 
gravity of a savant, almost with a gasp, you exclaimed : 
' Mans can't make moons.' Your audience was small, but 
you never addressed one better prepared to appreciate your 
abilities as a lecturer. Of this you were soon made sen- 
sible by our almost smothering you with kisses. This was 
your first lecture. How I should delight to know the 
thoughts that passed through your infant mind before you 



WILDERNESS. 



9 



spoke ! The Holy Spirit appears to have answered your 
baby inquiries (for you were in your third year). You 
there received the idea of Omnipotence, and, thank God, 
you have never lost it. 

One of the widow's daughters had married a Pres- 
byterian clergyman, and had removed to Lebanon, 
Ohio. After many trials consequent to the death of 
her husband, influenced by the representations of her 
son-in-law, she decided to follow her daughter to a 
location wherein her children might have more ad- 
vantages. 

In the month of February, 1816, after a residence 
in the country of twelve years, mounting the stock 
of the plantation, the family commenced a journey of 
three hundred miles. 

After traversing the distance over muddy trails 
and swollen streams, — the boy carried on horseback 
behind his older brother, — they came one morning to 
Covington, on the south bank of the Ohio River, and 
opposite Cincinnati. They crossed the river in a 
skiff. Just as the party left the shore a dark cloud 
came up, and before they were half across a storm of 
wind and rain broke over them. 

There is a curious contrast in the helplessness of a 
child buffeted by the waves of the turbulent river, in 
sight of the very ground of his future conquests, and 
the same being grown to manhood, and overcoming 
all obstacles. Is there in the little brain a glimmer 
of future scenes ? May not to his vision, held in his 
mother's arms in the rocking boat, serene skies re- 
place the storm clouds ? May he not see on the top 
of yonder hill, distinctly visible from the bosom of 
the river, a stone building? its roof rolling to one 
side. A tube, its brass mountings reflecting the yel- 



10 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



low rays, pointing to the sun before whose face the 
dark body of the moon is creeping? But a quarter 
of a century must first pass away. In the mean time 
let us follow events in order. 



II. 



EIEST INDEPENDENCE. 

The youngster who had been carried so far on 
horseback from the wilds of Kentucky was between 
seven and eight years old when the family reached 
Lebanon. At first he was instructed at home, and 
so carefully that he was soon advanced far beyond 
the usual attainments of children of his age. His 
brother-in-law, the clergyman, took a lively interest 
in him, and the mother was constant in her devotion 
to her youngest child. 

The town of Lebanon was then a thriving village 
in the centre of a rich farming country. It was the 
centre of trade and of education and talent, and a 
point from which emanated a considerable influence. 
A number of Ohio's early distinguished citizens were 
then there. Some of them were children, and some 
had already attained to distinction. Judge McLean 
of the Supreme Bench, Governor Thomas Corwin 
afterwards Secretary of the Treasury and a dis- 
tinguished orator, Governor Morrow, were either 
immersed in the active pursuits of life or giving 
promise of a distinguished career in the future. 

The oldest brother, who had received a classical 
education in Virginia before the removal of the 
family to Kentucky, opened a school. The boy was 
placed under his tuition and set to studying Latin 
and Greek and arithmetic. 



12 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



The advantages he had derived from being taught 
at home, together with a natural aptitude to learn, 
enabled him to enter classes composed of young men 
in many cases double his own age. He was thus 
soon lifted out of childhood into youth. The occupa- 
tions and reading and ambitions of his classmates 
became his. He joined their Thespian Society, and 
their debating club, and during the period while he 
was from seven to thirteen years of age, lie was in 
constant competition with those who were almost 
ready to enter upon the career of men. 

Yet he was not one of those boys who strive for 
a general perfection at school, for the mere sake of 
being perfect. His ambition to excel in his classes 
was never a passion. He loved the school for its 
excitements, and especially because many young girls 
were his companions and not unfrequently his rivals 
for school honors. 

There is a story told of his school days which 
shows a strong will, even in childhood. The scholars 
of the school he attended used to meet during the 
winter in friendly contest the scholars of another 
school. Upon being dismissed in the afternoon, 
these two factions would draw up in line of battle 
before each other and fight till one or the other was 
driven off the field. One evening the struggle had 
been unusually severe. The rival school at last 
began to gain an advantage. One by one their 
opponents dropped away. A small knot of boys 
tougher than the rest fought on, side by side. Grad- 
ually these also were one by one driven off the 
ground, till at last one little fellow, the Kentucky 
boy, was left to fight it out alone. He struggled on 
till he dropped from sheer exhaustion. " Boys," he 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE. 



13 



said, " you may kill me, but you shall never drive me 
off this field." 

On another occasion he was called up before the 
master for speaking loud in school. He had been 
interested in a problem in arithmetic. Suddenly 
the scholars were startled by seeing him strike his 
head with his hand, and exclaim, unconscious of the 
rule and the silence he was breaking, " Old head, I 
knew you could do it." 

These pleasant school-days had their ending. The 
only property possessed by the family was the lands 
they held in Kentucky. The widow strove to pay 
the taxes and hold the property ; but her means 
were too slender, and it was all lost. Their declining 
fortunes seemed to render it imperative that the 
youngest child should meet the fate of ordinary 
country lads of the time ; and arrangements were 
made, without consulting him, to apprentice him to 
a tradesman. 

He had been associating with those whose ambi- 
tions were in intellectual fields. His Thespian 
Society and his Debating Society had produced 
their effect. The Greek and Latin authors he had 
read had presented pictures to his young mind little 
in accordance with manual labor. He was but thir- 
teen years old when this announcement was made to 
him. He not only peremptorily declined to enter 
into the arrangement, but told those who had pro- 
posed to make it for him that they were released 
from any further responsibility as to his affairs, and 
that he would manage them himself. 

He commenced looking about at once for employ- 
ment, and soon found a position in a neighboring 
town as clerk in a country store, where every variety 



14 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



of article from a paper of pins to a plow was sold. 
Perhaps the term clerk is too exalted a name for his 
position. Yet it is not unlikely that, being bright, 
he soon came to be interested with matters of impor- 
tance to his employer. However, his stay here was 
very short. One day, one of the members of the 
family of his employer took it upon herself to accuse 
him of falsehood. He walked away with so little 
hesitation or delay that he did not even deign to 
take his effects. 

What he was to do now was a problem. He had 
scouted the plans of those who were his natural 
guides, and he had no thought of appearing at his 
home in Lebanon and presenting himself thus early 
beaten in the battle of life. He walked about, turn- 
ing over his peculiar position, without work and 
without money, and too proud to ask assistance. 
Shunning the store he had left, his wanderings led 
him to the lower part of the town, where he met 
a countryman, one of the customers of his late 
employer, who had just loaded his huge Pennsyl- 
vania wagon, and w r ith his powerful four-horse team 
was to start the following morning for Cincinnati. 
The boy proposed for the place of assistant teamster, 
agreeing to assist the countryman on the way as com- 
pensation for being permitted to make the journey 
with him. 

The proposition was accepted, and, mounting one 
of the large wheel-horses, while his newly -found 
friend mounted the other, they drove to the farmer's 
home to finish, that night, the preparation for the 
long journey to be commenced on the morrow, at 
dawn. 

The countryman did not question the boy as to 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE. 



15 



who he was, why he had left home, or whither he 
was going. Boys in those days early became their 
own masters, and McCoy the wagon-master gave 
himself no concern touching the history or destiny of 
his youthful assistant. He never even inquired if he 
intended to return with him from Cincinnati. The 
distance, they were to travel was a little more than a 
hundred miles, and to make the trip would occupy 
not less than two weeks. 

In the morning the two travelers were up before 
the lark, their horses were fed, groomed, and har- 
nessed, their provisions and provender stowed away, 
their blankets and bedding rolled up and strapped, 
and as the light began to gild the east, mounting 
the wheel-horses, they set forward on their journey. 
The boy had for a companion a jolly, roistering, 
ruddy-faced, light-haired, blue-eyed teamster, devoted 
to his team, every horse of which he loved as he did 
his wife and children. He met the ruts, mudholes, 
corduroy-bridges, and creek crossings with philosophic 
indifference, confident that his own skill and the 
strength of his horses would conquer every opposing 
obstacle. No one is so impressible as a boy of thir- 
teen or fourteen years of age ; and it is not unlikely 
that the little adventurer gained comfort and courage 
from his friend so careless of obstacles, and received 
impressions destined to seriously influence his future 
methods. 

They made from eighteen to twenty-two miles a 
day, according to the state of the roads. At noon 
they always halted to feed and water the horses, and 
take their own noon meal ; and before sunset would 
select a camping-ground near where they could easily 
get water, and where there was plenty of loose wood 



16 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT M1TCHEL. 



for a campfire. It fell to the lot of the assistant to 
kindle the fire, fetch the water, cook the meals, and 
prepare the blankets on which they were to make 
their beds, while McCoy devoted himself to the care 
of the horses. After supper they would lie down for 
the night that they might be ready for an early start 
in the morning. As the little adventurer lay beneath 
the friendly shelter of the wagon cover, while his 
less perplexed companion was buried deep in slum- 
ber, he revolved many schemes in his busy brain. 
Where there is intellect and courage and principle, 
allied to a healthy ambition, there is at least no surer 
means of bringing them out than by such stiffening 
of the powers against the world. 

On the evening of the fifth day after they had 
started, they halted in the vicinity of Lebanon, the 
boy's former home. Here he heard that a young 
merchant whom he knew wanted a clerk to assist 
him in opening a store in Xenia, the principal village 
of an adjoining county. The assistant teamster con- 
cluded to give up his projected trip to an unknown 
city and join his friend who was embarking in the 
new enterprise. Very trifling incidents often turn 
the whole course of a life. It was fortunate that he 
did not proceed further, as he would probably not 
have so well succeeded in his future efforts to secure 
an education had he done so. 

He was engaged at a salary of four dollars per 
month. He took leave of McCoy, for whom he had 
formed a real friendship, and who bade him adieu 
without the lea'st evidence of surprise, and on the 
following morning, in company with his new em- 
ployer, started for Xenia. 

In his second place he continued for more than a 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE. 



17 



year. It was soon found expedient to change the 
location of the business, which was given up at Xenia 
and reestablished at Lebanon. This was a very 
pleasant period for the boy. He enjoyed the confi- 
dence of his employer, who appeared well satisfied 
with his clerk, and frequently for two or three weeks 
together, during his absence in Cincinnati for the pur- 
chase of goods, left him in entire charge of the store. 
His home was in the midst of the family of the silent 
partner of his employer, to every one of whom he be- 
came devotedly attached. The oldest son had been 
his classmate, and as schoolfellows they had been 
strong friends. The daughters were lovely young 
girls, kind, amiable, and gentle, while the father and 
mother were just such persons as can rear such a 
family. 

In this position, and in this home, possessing the 
consciousness of independence and of honorable em- 
ployment, devoted to study and to thought, he was 
well situated to lay out plans for a future career. 
His tastes being intellectual, it is quite natural that 
he should cast about for some way by which he could 
secure an education. By accident he came upon a 
notice of the United States Military Academy at 
West Point. He was surprised to learn that the 
government provided quarters for the cadets, gave 
the highest scientific education, and paid each cadet 
a salary of twenty-eight dollars per month beside. 
The education and the salary were a tempting prize 
in the eyes of one who was receiving four dollars per 
month and no education. 

He reflected long and deeply over any chances he 
might have of securing such an appointment. He 
consulted his mother in the matter, but she did not 



18 



OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



seem to relish such a plan, remarking that the mili- 
tary academy was a school where young men were 
" trained to vice and the army." However, after 
much reflection, he made up his mind to try for a 
cadet's appointment. He wrote himself to several 
friends of his family then in Congress, among them 
Judge McLean and his brother, and the Hon. Thomas 
Ross, and begged their influence. 

The result was awaited with great anxiety. To a 
boy so interested in study, with such natural inde- 
pendence, and no special love for trade, an appoint- 
ment of this kind was certainly an object to be greatly 
desired. It was a period of great restlessness and 
chafing at delays in hearing from those who had his 
fate in their charge. It then took some weeks for a 
letter to go or come from Washington, and a boy of 
fifteen, if of any serious consideration to members of 
the government, was certainly more fortunate than 
he would be to-day. 

However, all suspense must at last have an end. 
One day the mail brought to his address an official 
letter. He broke the seal, and within found a cadet's 
warrant, with an order to report for examination 
June 1, 1825. 



III. 

CADET. 

Although from the time the distasteful proposi- 
tion that he should learn a trade was made to him 
till the reception of his cadet's appointment young 
Mitchel managed his affairs to suit himself, his home 
connections were by no means broken. His mother, 
for whom he had the greatest love, had in the mean 
time gone to live with a married daughter at Piqua, 
Ohio, and during such intervals as her son was ab- 
sent from his business he was with his mother and 
sister at Piqua. From here he left for West Point. 
He had saved a little money, and with a trifle more 
of assistance from his relatives enough was got to- 
gether to bear the expense of the journey. A horse 
was borrowed, on which he set out for Sandusky, on 
Lake Erie, a distance of some one hundred and forty 
miles. It was a lonely ride at that early day. The 
only road was a mark made on the forest trees by 
chipping off a piece of the bark along the route, and 
called a " blaze." On reaching Upper Sandusky he 
hired an Indian boy to go with him to Sandusky 
and then take back the horse he had borrowed. 
"Had I not got to Upper Sandusky as soon as I 
did," he wrote, " I should have had to wait in Port- 
land for one week. As it was, I only had to wait 
one night." 

The next morning he took passage on a lake 



20 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT M1TCHEL. 



boat for Buffalo. There he embarked on a canal boat 
for Albany. From Albany he proceeded down the 
Hudson River to West Point, where he arrived on 
the 22d of June, at eleven o'clock at night, " and 
put up," he says, " at a house of entertainment for 
strangers." The next day he reported for exami- 
nation, and entered his name, Ormsby MacKnight 
Mitchel, aged fifteen years and eleven months. 

Young Mitchel's experience on arriving at West 
Point, and his entrance to the United States Military 
Academy, has been clipped from boyish letters to his 
mother. They do not speak highly of the accommo- 
dations and table fare provided for cadets in the 
early days of the Academy. 

After having reported myself for duty at the superin- 
tendent's office (E. T. Thayer), I then reported to the 
adjutant of the corps, who assigned me to a room contain- 
ing four new cadets like myself. The room was very 
small, and was, indeed, very much crowded by four. The 
persons then in it were not very willing to receive a fifth 
person. I consequently met with rather a cold reception. 
1 tried to render myself as agreeable as possible, and soon 
raked up an acquaintance with my new roommates. After 
conversing a few minutes with each I came to the conclu- 
sion that I was as good as any of them as far as related to 
mathematical genius, although I was dressed rather shabby, 
and you can judge of the correctness of my opinion since 
the first January winds (examinations) blew three of the 
four safe home again. 

The first meal I ate as a cadet was on Wednesday. We 
had soup for dinner. I took one mouthful and that satis- 
fied me. I saw some who were eating molasses (and you 
know I was extremely fond of our molasses), so I called 
for the pitcher of molasses, thinking what a fine dinner I 
would make on bread and molasses, but the first taste was 
sufficient. 'T was the most filthy kind of Orleans molasses. 



CADET. 



There was some black-looking stuff, contained in a i. 
pan, which was honored with the name of pudding ; but 1 
had already received my dose, so I thought it not expedi- 
ent to risk any further by tasting the pudding. I munched 
away on a crust of bread until the word " rise " was given, 
got up, and, as the saying is, " retired in utter disgust." 
Well, this was the luckiest thing for me that ever hap- 
pened, and I will tell you why. You recollect that I had 
not looked at arithmetic for some months before I left 
home. I was consequently rather rusty in this grand 
science. Now on the next day came the drum-beat for 
dinner. I had had a quantum sujjicit the day before. I 
stayed at my room while the battalion was gone to dinner, 
and was sitting musing on my sad condition, and did not 
know what on earth to do, when an old cadet — a son of 
the great Fulton — stepped in by accident. I was totally 
unacquainted with him, and had never seen him before. 
I pressed him to take a seat, and we commenced a conver- 
sation. He at length asked me if I felt prepared to pass 
my examination. I frankly told him that I did not. He 
told me that I would be examined in two days, and that I 
had better look over the subject, and there would then be 
no danger of my not passing. He said he would get me 
a book and show me what to learn. He did so. I sat 
down and studied constantly until I was called up. 

On . the 28th I was examined, in the forenoon, and was 
kept in mortifying suspense until about eight o'clock at 
night, when the new cadets were ordered to form in front 
of the barracks, and the names of those who were admitted 
were called out, and they were ordered to advance four 
paces. Oh, what a moment this was ! As still as the hour 
of death. There was about fifty called in alphabetical 
order. At last my name was called. Oh, I cannot describe 
my happy feelings ! There was about twenty out of the 
number rejected. This morning, about eight o'clock, we 
were marched into camp (Adams), called for the new pres- 
ident. I have formed some acquaintance with the cadets, 
and I think without exception they are the most gentle- 
manly set I ever saw. 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Among other names called on that evening, so 
important to young Mitchel, were two destined after- 
wards to become prominent in an effort to break the 
power of the government that had called upon them 
to step four paces to the front that they might re- 
ceive an education which would fit them for its 
defenders. These were Robert E. Lee and Joseph 
E. Johnston. Another, afterwards one of the most 
famous of Confederate leaders, Albert Sidney John- 
ston, then a first-class man, possibly stood looking 
on ; while still another, who was emerging from the 
grub " plebe " into the butterfly third-class man, 
Jefferson Davis, was doubtless conjuring up methods 
by which he might render the existence of the new 
cadets drawn up in line most trying. 

In Mitchel's student life may be traced what 
might be expected of him. Had he been the same 
age as most of those who stood above him in his 
class, and had he been better prepared on entering, 
perhaps he might have competed for the first honors. 
When he entered he was not quite sixteen years old, 
while his successful competitors were, some of them, 
nineteen or twenty. A prominent journalist of Cin- 
cinnati has given the keynote to Mitchel's career in 
speaking of how he was regarded while a cadet. 

Mitchel was noted at West Point for his quickness and 
ingenuity. My father, who was formerly professor of phi- 
losophy there, used to say, " Little Mitchel is very ingen- 
ious." He was more than that. He was a real genius. 
A great many people are spoken of as men of genius, but 
I never saw more than half a dozen in my life, and 
Ormsby Mitchel was one of them. 1 

The period passed at West Point was among the 

1 Memoirs of E. D. Mansfield. 



CADET. 



23 



pleasantest of Mitchel's life. Suddenly relieved of 
the irksome duties of a clerk, and the necessity for 
earning his own living, with nothing to interfere 
with his disposition to live, for a few years at least, 
a student's life, his lot was certainly very pleasing. 
Then there was something in the surroundings calcu- 
lated to influence a certain poetic dreaminess, which, 
singularly enough, was found among the restless 
traits of his character. There is no more beautiful 
scenery in America, probably not in the world, than 
about West Point. The high hills on either bank of 
the Hudson, the level plateau around whose rocky 
shores the river bends, furnishing a view of its sur- 
face northward, for miles, dotted with sails and steam- 
ers, all combine to render West Point a beautiful 
spot. In summer, upon the quiet air one constantly 
hears sounds of music from the Academy band, or the 
metallic ring of arms, or the distant boom of a gun 
in target practice, while above the broad level plain, 
against the sky, floats the national flag. Under this 
flag Mitchel was cared for and educated, at that sus- 
ceptible period when men are most readily influenced. 
Here his ideas of his duty to the state were formed, 
and here he imbibed a patriotism that grew stronger 
with every year he lived. 

Mitchel's class (1829) has often been spoken of 
as " that celebrated class." Several of its members 
became distinguished, and a large proportion of those 
who reached middle life became prominent, and occu- 
pied positions of considerable trust. When the stand- 
ing of the class was announced on the 30th of June, 
1829, the name of Charles Mason headed the class. 
Robert E. Lee stood second. Thirteenth came the 
name of Joseph E. Johnston, while fifteenth in a 



24 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



class of forty-six was that of Ormsby MacKnight 
Mitchel. 

Upon graduating, Mitchel was assigned to the 
Second artillery as brevet second lieutenant, there 
being at the time no vacancies in the regiment. He 
was selected as assistant professor in mathematics at 
the Academy, and thus gained two years more of 
comparative leisure, in which to pursue his studies. 



IV. 



TKAITS. 

BETWEEN the boy of thirteen, setting out to seek 
his fortune with a teamster in Ohio, and the young 
assistant professor at West Point, there has come a 
great change. Four years of study, of discipline, of 
association with young men who have been gathered 
from town and country alike, have given him enlarged 
ideas ; his manners have been gradually furbished 
with his accoutrements, and his brain strengthened 
and polished in his classes. And now before follow- 
ing him further it may be well to glance at his char- 
acteristics, with a view to discovering what promise 
there is in him. 

The post at West Point was one of the pleasantest 
in the army. The families of professors, officers, and 
others residing there and thereabouts formed an at- 
tractive society. There was boating and driving in 
summer, and skating and sleighing and general merry- 
making in winter. Mitch el was naturally socially 
disposed, and entered into such recreations with zest. 
Yet after partaking of all these pleasures, and giving 
the required time to his section of cadets, the day 
furnished hours for other purposes. He commenced 
the study of the law, in order to have a profession to 
fall back upon in case he should not care to follow 
that of a soldier. 

While thus occupied he kept a diary. It may be 



26 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



well to take a glance here and there in this record of 
daily thoughts and incidents, kept in an old blank 
book intended for taking notes on lectures while he 
was a cadet, not with a view to extracting ideas of 
great worth, or of finding entries of literary merit, 
but to gain some inkling of the idiosyncrasies, talents, 
faults, foibles, mingling in confusion, yet working 
together to the formation of a character. A thou- 
sand wild fancies were at that time floating about 
him. At one time he was dreaming ; at another, 
pushing forward in some ambitious move ; now full 
of fire, and now pining for some one on whom to 
lavish the tenderness of an affectionate nature. In 
the very opening of the diary, on April 25, 1830, he 
is dreaming. 

A gloomy afternoon, and my thoughts almost as gloomy 
as the weather. I wonder if there be not a connection 
existing between our thoughts and surrounding objects. 
Sometimes I have imagined my spirits rise and fall with 
the sunshine and the cloud. Be that as it may, I perceive 
myself at rather a low ebb this evening. My mind seems 
to turn in restlessness from side to side, and yet finds no 
spot on which it can rest with the least composure or 
satisfaction. It finds nothing to soothe, nothing to cast a 
subduing influence over the jarring chords of thought, and 
reduce them to harmony and sweetness. I think if I could 
gaze for one moment upon some kindly face that beamed 
with goodness, that looked candid and artless, this would 
produce the desired effect. 

My present mode of life ill suits my disposition. It 
may be well for one to spend a large proportion of his 
time alone. We are then obliged to think, and if our 
thoughts are under proper control, this may be of un- 
doubted advantage. But to live entirely alone, to occupy 
a solitary room, in which nothing greets the eye except in- 
animate objects, where all is silent, and one starts, as Sel- 



TRAITS. 



27 



kirk beautifully represents the depth of loneliness, " at the 
sound of my voice," — there is nothing good in this : the 
mind is apt to indulge itself in melancholy feelings ; a 
sort of cheerlessness pervades every object that surrounds, 
and the feelings are soon wrought to a pitch that be- 
comes painful. And yet there is a keen enjoyment even 
in an excitement of this sort, and we are rather disposed 
to indulge than throw off that train of thought which has 
led us to such a singular stretch of feeling. A little of 
such sensations may not be injurious, but I should esteem 
my situation unhappy should it necessarily lead me to such 
reflection. 

Afternoon. Have been reading law and am in better 
spirits. The weather is bad, and the rain is dashing 
against my windows. I wonder if I shall ever practice 
law ? Doubtful question : indeed, there is no one settled 
point in my future prospects. All doubtful, dim, and 
dreary. N'importe, " All 's well that ends well." So I '11 
even wait for the finale. 

In the spring of 1830 he laid plans for visiting 
Europe. He was to go in company with Lieutenant 
J. Bryce Smith : they had applied for leave and had 
laid out the details of the projected tour. The object 
seems to have been like all other plans formed at this 
time, vague. Mitchel states it thus : — 

My time could be employed to great advantage in study- 
ing men and manners, and then the mind would be stored 
with many new and important ideas which never could 
arise but for this. I would take great delight in the ac- 
quisition of knowledge by this method. There always is 
something interesting to me in the face of a stranger. It 
excites a desire at once to become acquainted with the 
character and life of the possessor. Besides, instruction 
received in this way is always more lasting. 

Should I be so fortunate as to obtain a furlough, I 
must necessarily trust to fortune's chances for the " one 
thing needful." No matter : it will necessarily furnish 



28 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



employment for my ingenuity, — if I possess any. I am 
not aware of the existence of any friend who could furnish 
me the means necessary to meet my expenses, but still I 
go on with the greatest confidence. All things have thus 
far succeeded with scarcely an exertion on my part, and 
why not now ? On applying for an appointment to the 
Military Academy I had quite as little prospect of success. 
I shall therefore hope for the best and exert myself to the 
utmost. 

That year (1880) a revolution in France deposed 
Charles X. and made Louis Philippe King of the 
French. The following spring brought a feverish 
political condition to all Europe. Mitchel was at 
that age when he would be most likely to be infected 
with the spirit of exciting times. 

5 th April 1831. 

A revolution has broken out in Italy. Republican 
principles spreading. Russia, Austria, and Prussia against 
Poland. The Grand Turk disposed to take advantage of 
his autocratic majesty and to break the Treaty of Con- 
stantinople. Louis Philippe rejected the Crown of Bel- 
gium. There must be another revolution in France. . . . 
I should glory in mingling with the whirlwind and the 
storm. I should like to witness the conflict of emperors 
and see the lightnings blaze from assembled millions. 

7th April 1831. 

More and awful news from Europe. Paris in a state 
of absolute fermentation. Mobs furious, ministry feeble, 
deputies loud, boisterous, and clamorous, fleurs-de-lis being 
torn from every building, priests attacked, churches demol- 
ished, books bonfired, loud talks of republican government, 
war, civil war, etc. Well, well, what boots all this ? Only 
that my plans darken apace. Don't feel in so good spirits 
this afternoon. Have been talking half a day about 
Europe and its convulsions. The thing is nearly out as 
to my journey. What shall I do then ? I know not. 
I have been studying law this year at any rate. 



TRAITS. 



29 



At the Thespian Society in Lebanon, Mitchel at 
eleven or twelve } r ears old had taken an important 
part. At West Point, eight years after, he was 
desirous of launching out as an orator. How long 
he had to wait for an invitation, or whether, to a 
young man ambitious for oratorical honors, the mat- 
ter of an invitation was of no great importance, does 
not appear. To one possessing a special talent, such 
obstacles do not usually prevent its display. Mitchel 
determined to speak in public, and he did. 

It was in April of 1831 that he made his first ap- 
pearance on the rostrum. His subject was Temper- 
ance, and his speech was written. It was to be 
delivered on an afternoon before the circle of pro- 
fessors, officers and their families, cadets, and others 
connected with the Academy or the post at West 
Point. When the day came on which the event was 
to occur, he spent the morning reading and writing 
and watching the weather, the clerk of which did 
not seem to realize that on that day an orator of 
twenty-one years was to appear for the first time in 
his life on the rostrum, and extremely anxious as to 
the number of his audience. Shortly before the hour 
at which he was expected to speak, and again im- 
mediately after the delivery of his oration, he wrote 
in his diary : — 

Weather changeable : " II fait du soleil a present, et 
en irapende temps, il fait niege." No dependence, and 
no matter. Am prepared for the worst, so " burst ye 
thunders." 

Afternoon. Rather comfortable looking. All prepara- 
tions made, or making. I feel tolerably calm as yet, and 
hope I may remain so. But there is no telling. I shall be 
pleased if the house is full. If not, I must needs bear it. 
Mem. — To gaze at my audience before commencing. It 



30 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



may give me time to breathe, and all that. Read Byron 
(Moore's Life and poetry), dined on fish, passed in my 
" report " to the governor, and now am waiting for three 
o'clock. If any person criticises my speech with judgment, 
will say it is too " antique " for modern days. As to style, 
it is too regular and harmonious, that is, swelling and 
sinking too much in time. Yet I think it is strong and 
nervous. I write these things to compare what I now 
think with what I may think hereafter. 

Well, 't is all over. I have stood before the public, and 
have addressed them in a speech of forty minutes, (no 
short period to fix the attention.) I was much more calm 
and deliberate than I expected to be. Bungled and forgot 
but little comparatively. Some things I would have wished 
better ; but no matter. But few ladies present. At least 
but a very few. I know not how it took and care no 
great deal, so it is not positively damned, since I spent no 
time upon its construction, and only used it as a stepping- 
stone to my next, 1 to be delivered in June, on a grand sub- 
ject. Then I will lay down my strength, and try my 
speed and bottom. I have two months to prepare. Pro- 
fessor D and Cadet S were the most marked in 

attention. This I noticed from the stand. The whole 
audience were indulgent in this particular. 

Lieutenant Mitcbel had obtained leave for the 
purpose of doing some engineering work on a rail- 
road then building in Pennsylvania. One day he 
was ordered to New York to carry to the directors 
some information as to the plans, routes, and other 
matters pertaining to the road. Finding himself 
confronted by these men, any one of whom was prob- 
ably double his age, Mitcbel proceeded to convey 

1 The subject of the proposed speech was "A National Association 
for the Advancement of Knowledge." The burning of the rec- 
ords of the Military Academy prevent discovering whether it was 
delivered. 



TRAITS. 



31 



the information with no more trepidation than if he 
were addressing his section at West Point. In a let- 
ter to his brother, who had carried him on horseback 
from Kentucky when a child, he speaks of the com- 
ment of one of the directors, which had been repeated 
to him, upon his youthful appearance. 

By the by it appears that I am destined to be called 
" boy " all my days. I shall certainly wear whiskers and 
mustachios in self-defense. In one of my letters to you I 
mentioned my appearance before the Board of Directors 
of our railroad company, for the purpose of explaining 
certain drawings, charts, etc., relating to our work, which 
I had been engaged in making. I have since understood 
that some of the wise heads were pleased to remark, " What 
a boy that is to send on such business to men ! " 

In gathering up the traits indicated in these few 
extracts we find a somewhat promiscuous bundle of 
characteristics for a young man with which to begin 
life. Firstly, there is a tendency to dream — not a 
very good sign ; but this is offset by great self-reli- 
ance. Then there is an at least apparent visionary 
or impractical disposition, and an evident desire to 
be stirring and to mingle in exciting events. In the 
attempt at public speaking, and in his confident re- 
marks to the railroad directors, there is something 
which, despite other less promising faculties, bids us 
watch for more than medium rank in that world 
which he is entering. 

Mingled with these is that of gentler mould, and 
far stronger in him than any or all of these traits, 
which is reserved for mention in another chapter. 



V. 



LOVE. 

There lived at Corn wall -on -the -Hudson, some 
six or eight miles from West Point, a young widow, 
Louisa Trask. She was the daughter of an old and 
respected citizen, Judge Clark, who had long made 
his home upon the hills that overlook the river. 
Louisa Clark's girlhood had been passed there in the 
midst of the beautiful scenery of "the highlands." 
At seventeen she was married to Lieutenant Trask 
of the army, and went with her husband to his post 
at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, then on the 
frontier. More than a year after this marriage Lieu- 
tenant Trask, while on duty in charge of some re- 
cruits coming up the Mississippi River, was taken ill 
at Memphis, and died in a few days. The widow, 
then not nineteen years of age, and with a young 
babe, found herself obliged to return to her father 
at Cornwall. The journey at that time could only 
be made by many days' staging. Carrying her child 
over rough roads, through a wilderness, beset by all 
the trials and dangers of a long stage-coach journey, 
she at last returned to the house she had so recently 
left a bride. 

It was a few years after all this happened that 
Mitchel, having emerged from his cadetship, was in- 
vested with all the privileges of a member of that 
society formed among those living at and about West 



LOVE. 



m 



Point. He soon heard of the beauty and misfortunes 
of the young widow, and being at an age when such 
a story would work to greatest effect on a naturally 
sympathetic disposition, he had a great curiosity to 
see her. They met one day at the house of a mutual 
friend. Mitchel saw a graceful figure, of medium 
height, a complexion ruddy or rosy, hair and eyes 
jet black, — the eyes especially large and expressive, 
and a face which, though very young, was tinged 
with melancholy. 

They met again at the house of Mrs. Trask's sis- 
ter, Mrs. De Witt, who lived at West Point ; and 
Mitchel, having the young widow for a partner at 
cards, suffered himself to gaze somewhat longer than 
was quite safe at a pair of dark eyes directly opposite 
him. 

On pleasant afternoons, when he had finished his 
daily efforts to crowd mathematics into the heads of 
those luckless youngsters who compose the fourth 
section at the Academy, he was accustomed to get 
out his horse and enjoy the fresh air among the hills 
lying about West Point. It happened that there 
was a road running off in a northwesterly direction, 
winding in among the hills, Storm King, Crows- 
nest, Butter Hill, and coming out at Cornwall. This 
road furnished one of the most beautiful drives to be 
found about the Point ; and Mitchel once on it saw 
no occasion to stop till he arrived at Cornwall. 

After a while winter came on, and the snows fell 
deep, and the river froze over ; but the road to Corn- 
wall was still to be traversed in a sleigh, and a good 
skater could skate there easily on the river. When 
Mitchel found the ice smooth he would put on his 
skates for an afternoon's exercise, but it never seemed 



34 



OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



to occur to him to go down the river : it was always 
up towards Cornwall. 

These trips w T ere very near coming to a tragic end 
one cold winter night. He had finished a visit to 
a certain little cottage-built house that was set in 
among the hills fronting the river, and started to 
skate back on the ice. While gliding along, his 
thoughts running as smoothly as his skates, he sud- 
denly found himself over his head in ice water. He 
had skated into an air-hole. His rapid motion and 
the current took him to the farther edge. Here he 
clung while the outgoing tide was sucking him under. 
He knew it would be only a few moments before his 
strength would give way, and he would be carried on 
under the ice. Gathering all his forces, he made a 
desperate effort, and succeeded in scrambling up on 
hard ice. Then commenced a race for dear life. He 
was soaked to the skin, and without incessant action 
would freeze to death. When he reached his quar- 
ters his clothes were frozen stiff. 

Many of these incidents, and more, are recorded in 
the journal Mitch el kept during this period at West 
Point. There may be a few living whose heads are 
white as snow, who would take a melancholy pleasure 
in perusing the yellow pages of this diary. There 
they would see their own names familiarly written at 
a time when they were in the first freshness of youth. 
Yet when one remembers how the time- waves have 
for fifty years been steadily sweeping over all those 
who then formed a pleasant circle at West Point, 
how few are left, and how soon these will join their 
companions who have gone, there comes an impulse 
to close the book and lay it away. But the biogra- 
pher, like the surgeon, must needs repress his sensi- 



LOVE. 



35 



bilities, at least for the moment, that he may draw 
forth the story that lies within these records of a 
dead past. 

There was one spring during which the entries in 
the diary indicate a particularly happy period. A 
few notes may at times tell more than well filled 
pages. There is mention of a visit from the young 
widow to her sister at West Point, and how she 
was induced to prolong it. One day it was " a visit 
to Moss Cottage," another " a row on the river." 
Mitchel was fond of music, and had learned to handle 
a guitar. He sang " Will Watch " and " Isabel," 
and " Flow on thou Shining River," songs that have 
long ago faded from the musical world. Then it 
was "the ball," "the camp illuminated," and, lastly, 
" a walk to the dock when she went away." After 
that, a " solitary ramble." " There is something 
soothing in the mountain and the wave. To sit be- 
neath the cliffs of the one and gaze in solitude on 
the other has long been for me a delightful employ- 
ment." 

During all this time the current of feeling in the 
two young people was gently ebbing and flowing 
like the tide in the river beneath them ; yet a silent, 
unnoticeable stream bearing them onward, till at last 
they found themselves in that enchanted land to 
which all lovers go without being aware of the jour- 
ney. Mitchel fell desperately in love, and it has 
been said of the young widow, by one who then knew 
her, that she was completely charmed by the ardent, 
aspiring young officer. Whether it was the visits to 
Cornwall, or walks to old Fort Putnam, or drives 
among the hills, or boating on the river, the journal 
does not state, but there is evidence on a very dingy, 



36 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



almost illegible page, a third of which is torn away, 
that in the month of July, 1830, they left: the placid 
stream on which they had been sailing, and suddenly 
found themselves in the rapids. 

Mitchel had won the widow, but he had not won 
her family. They thought him too much addicted 
to books and to study, they said. At any rate, the 
match met with serious opposition. Mitchel was not 
one to easily stand having his plans balked at an} 7 
time, and in a matter in which his whole happiness 
was embarked he found his philosophy tried to the 
fullest extent. When there is no good reason for 
opposition in such cases, relatives usually hit upon 
some trivial matter, which they magnify and distort 
until they make it appear an impenetrable barrier 
to wedded happiness. The trip that Mitchel pro- 
posed to make to Europe was made' the groundwork 
on which to base an opposition. It was pointed out 
to the young widow as eminently absurd that she 
should engage herself to a young fellow from the 
frontier State of Ohio, who designed visiting Europe 
without means to take him, and where he would very 
likely, if he succeeded in getting there, become in- 
volved in some of the revolutions then brewing, — per- 
haps lose his head by the guillotine. Indeed, the 
prospect was not encouraging. The plans of a young 
man whose only reliance is his own resource and 
perseverance and ingenuity, must always be a source 
of wonder to those of more settled methods, and es- 
pecially to those who have grown old in experience. 
It is therefore not surprising that Mrs. Trask's fam- 
ily should have hesitated to intrust her to one who 
must have seemed to them a mere visionary young- 
ster. 



LOVE. 



SI 



Another spring came on, but a changed season 
from the foregoing one for the young people. The 
diary has become feverish. There are hints of ob- 
stacles, of enemies, of some dreaded impending 
trouble. There is a mingling of fear and confidence, 
each, of which shows itself suddenly, and dies away 
as it came. Indeed, there are all those conflicting 
emotions only to be found together in the breast of 
an ardent young man of twenty-one, desperately in 
love, and in constant dread of losing his mate. 

A crisis came at last. The trouble arose from the 
projected trip to Europe. It is singular that an event 
so little likely ever to take place should have pro- 
duced such unhappy results. Mitehel offered to give 
up his tour, if Mrs. Trask desired it. " No," she said, 
"it shall never be said that you relinquished your 
trip at my entreaty." 

But the pressure brought to bear upon her was too 
strong not to produce some effect. Mrs. Trask held 
the wishes of her friends in too high regard to ignore 
them entirely. She at last wrote her lover that she 
had decided so far to accede to the views of her fam- 
ily as to break their engagement in case he should go 
abroad ; but that she did not wish this to influence 
him to abandon his trip. 

With all a lover's sensitiveness he at once assumed 
this announcement to be a polite dismissal. "Well," 
he wrote, the morning after its reception, " the ava- 
lanche which has so long impended has fallen. I am 
confoundedly mangled and bruised, but not totally 
crushed." Taking up his pen, he wrote one whom 
he had been in the habit of addressing by endearing 
names a note, which began, " Respected Madam," 
and ended, " Your obedient servant." He informed 



38 OR MS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



her that he had abandoned his trip, but since her let- 
ter he had resumed it. It is needless to point out 
the result to the intelligent reader who is not in 
love. In due course of time it came back to him 
with the simple indorsement, " Accepted. Louisa 

And this was the end : the result he had so Ions: 
feared. His engagement was broken : he was hope- 
lessly in love, and the world before him was a dreary 
wilderness. 

Twenty-four hours were sufficient for the excite- 
ment attending the first shock to wear off. On the 
second evening his courage began to sink rapidly, and 
by the following day he was ready to go back over 
the ground he had traversed by way of that valley 
of humiliation through which the daughters of Eve 
have driven the sons of Adam from time immemorial. 

But would even this avail ? Such a question is only 
calculated to arouse new terror in the breast of a de- 
spondent lover. How many letters were begun and 
never finished, how many were written and never 
sent, does not matter. There is a natural course 
through which such affairs have to run, like a fever. 
To the cold surgical eye of the biographer, which 
must necessarily pass over a record closed to others, 
the course on this occasion appears to have been the 
usual one. Indeed, it was the most common of all 
love maladies. 

The condition of the patient is thus noted from the 
diary : — 

April 17th. Rose at half past five, and read Tacitus' 
De Moribus Germanorum, the first reading of any interest 
for a week. To-morrow I opine will bring something de- 
cisive unless la dama concludes to consult her friends, in 



LOVE. 



39 



which case they will send me au diable without salt or 
vinegar to preserve me, and that with a hearty good will. 

Then he tried reading Herodotus, and having got 
his mind fixed for a few moments on one of those 
remarkable statements of the father of history, he 
thought he was mending. But no one perusing his 
notes at the time could pronounce him anything but 
feverish. In truth, he was passing through a crisis, 
possibly the most important of his life. He was 
madly in love. A happy issue might make him ; an 
unhappy issue might mar him. Ten da} r s passed and 
yet no outcome. 

April 20. Read a little this morning, — Life of Agricola. 
Time hangs like so much lead on my shoulders ; whole 
hours drag in misery and impatience away. Then I expect 
letters which do not come, and I am thus disappointed. 
Well ! it cannot be so forever, thank fortune ; things must 
end some time. 

This is the lastsentence written in the diary. Here 
there is a sudden ominous break. Nothing but faded 
blank paper to the end of the book. Something has 
evidently happened ; either a final wreck of all hope, 
or a reconciliation. Not even regard for a future 
puzzled biographer induced the writer to refrain from 
breaking off in this provoking manner at such an im- 
portant point. Turning back over the pages, two or 
three short notes appear at intervals written cross- 
wise. What is this written across the most pathetic 
page, bearing date of April 13, 1832 ? 

Here I am one year after the writing of this page with 
a wife seated at the other extremity of the table. And 
who do you suppose it is ? Surely not she who would 
break an engagement, because forsooth her lover would 
not resign his schemes of travel. Surely not she who 



40 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



could desire her lover to remain at home for fear her 
friends might censure her for receiving his visits. Surely 
not the person who could receive him who had flown to 
her "upon the wings of the wind" with the chilling ques- 
tion, " Why did you come ? " Yes, this same, this very same 
person is now my wife. Oh ! what is the boasted reason 
and judgment of man ! 



VI. 



ENGINEER AND PROFESSOR. 

In the summer of 1831 there was a wedding party 
at Cornwall. Mitchel had been ordered to join his 
company, then stationed at Fort Marion, St. Augus- 
tine, Florida. Taking with them Mrs. Mitch el's 
child by her former marriage, now a boy of three or 
four years of age, they proceeded to the station with 
the delightful anticipation of wandering through 
orange groves and listening to the piping of the 
nightingale. Their anticipations were realized. The 
young couple had but little to do except to ride 
under the trees and pluck the ripe oranges and listen 
to the warbling of the birds. Mitchel's duties were 
nominal. Save an occasional day's duty as officer of 
the guard or officer of the day, an inspection or dress 
parade, his time was almost entirely unoccupied. 

These duties were altogether too light to satisfy 
one who had already delivered temperance addresses 
and appeared as civil engineer before boards of direc- 
tors. Neither himself nor his wife had any means 
upon which to begin the world in any other career. 
But Mitchel never seemed to take pleasure in those 
things which did not involve obstacles to be over- 
come, and it has been seen that it was his disposition 
not to calculate on the means by which he proposed 
to accomplish objects so much as upon his own re- 
sources and ingenuity. He served at Fort Marion 



42 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT M1TCHEL. 



one year. On the 30th of September, 1832, he 
resigned his commission. 

His plan was to seek the West. He had no defi- 
nite intentions, but believed he had sufficient energy 
and ability to work his way. He could teach, and 
was at home with the implement of his ancestors, 
the theodolite. He chose the most promising town 
west of the Alleghanies, Cincinnati. It had then a 
population of about twenty-five thousand practical, 
hard-working people, ready to welcome any one who 
was willing to settle down and work. One or two 
of Mitchel's West Point chums had come from there 
and had returned. Others having friends there were 
kind enough to give him letters. 

On a bleak November day the ex-lieutenant reached 
Cincinnati, a place in which he was destined to re- 
side for nearly thirty years. 

An entry in a note-book kept at the time gives a 
brief account of the first days spent in his new home. 

Rained all day. Searched the city for a boarding-place 
and found none ; was obliged to stop at Mr. Hackwelder's 

hotel. Monday, saw R and M . Received but 

a cool reception. Shall cut them with much satisfaction. 
Visited Judge Burnet. Received with kindness and at- 
tention. The Judge offered me all the assistance in his 
power. Delivered letter to J. D. Jones, and on Wednesday 
received a call from Mr. Jones and wife. Wednesday, 
called on Mrs. Mansfield. Excellent woman. Seemed 
deeply interested for our welfare. Called on Dr. Drake. 
Sick and invisible. Saw Judge Burnet second time. Con- 
versed on the subject of my immediate admission to the 

bar. Chances against it. Called on C. H . Thinks _ 

my chances of admission but few. 

Next follows an advertisement of a graduate of 
West Point, who is desirous of forming a class in 



ENGINEER AND PROFESSOR. 



43 



such branches of mathematics as are 44 particularly 
important to those who anticipate any connection 
with the mechanic arts." 

Another entry follows, evidently written at the 
same time. 

I have been deeply engaged for the last three years of 
my life in trying to discover the particular course out of 
thousands which should be adopted and pursued by myself. 
Difficulties assail me in the outset, and these have been 
growing and darkening in proportion to the distance which 
has been passed over in my adopted course, like the mists 
which envelop the mountain, and increase as the trav- 
eler ascends, until he with difficulty gropes his uncertain 
way. So have I toiled and struggled on until I am now 
almost enveloped in impenetrable difficulties. But let this 
be an encouragement, for if the traveler persevere, a few 
more struggles carry him above the clouds which impeded 
his way, and will present him a clear, broad, bright, and 
unbounded prospect as a reward for his toil. So with me; 
the very multiplicity of difficulties which now surround 
me tell me that the race is well-nigh won. A few more 
persevering, vigorous efforts and the difficulties shall be 
surmounted. I shall rise above their influence, and be 
rewarded with a full and clear prospect. 

In due time Mitchel was admitted to the bar, and 
soon became the partner of E. D. Mansfield, after- 
ward one of the most distinguished journalists of 
the West. Mr. Mansfield, like Mitchel, had gradu- 
ated at West Point, though ten years before Mitchel's 
time. He thus speaks of the efforts of the firm in 
the profession of the law in his memoirs : — 

In the year 1834 I had my office on Third Street, near 
Main. My partner in our professed law business was 
Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. . . . We were really literary 
men, and our thoughts wandered off to other subjects. 
The scene in our office was often a remarkable one,, 



44 



OEMS BY MA C KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



though observed by no eyes but our own. Mitchel was 
fond of the classics, and instinctively fond of eloquence. 
The scene I refer to was this : Mitchel sat in one corner 
reading Quintilian, a Latin author on oratory. He was 
enamored of the book, and would turn to me and read 
passages from it. I, on the other hand, sat at my desk, 
in another corner, writing my Political Grammar (now the 
Political Manual). Thus we were two students, each oc- 
cupied with his own literary pursuits, and neither thinking 
of what both professed, the practice of the law. The con- 
sequence was what might have been expected. Mitchel 
resorted to teaching classes, and I became a public writer. 
We both found our vocations, though very different from 
what either had anticipated. 

Let us pass over the next eight or nin# years of 
Mitchel's life, with an occasional glance here and 
there, that we may keep the chain of events un- 
broken. Probably the most unpromising period of 
his whole career in Cincinnati was when he was 
endeavoring to practise law. Children were being 
born to him ; it was necessary to provide for the 
wants of his wife and family ; but there were no 
clients, and Mitchel did not possess the faculty of 
securing them, or the peculiar tastes requisite to 
making the most out of them after they were se- 
cured. His wife stood by him in these days of 
discouragement, never losing faith in him, and always 
encouraging and helping. Teaching and engineering 
together enabled him to get on. He had various 
other schemes at different times, but none ever 
seemed to produce results save these two branches. 

The Cincinnati College, which had been founded 
in 1819 and had died out, was revived in 1835. In 
1836 Mitchel was elected by the Board of Trus- 
tees professor of mathematics, civil engineering, me- 



ENGINEER AND PROFESSOR. 



45 



chanics, and machinery. " The salary," says the let- 
ter of appointment, " is $1,500 (including a session of 
nine months), with the privilege of sharing equally 
with, the college in the proceeds of whatever tickets 
you may dispose of at your own price to irregulars. 
The regular annual vacation will continue during the 
three summer months, but to facilitate your opera- 
tions in civil engineering, the Board have granted you 
the option of remaining absent for four weeks longer, 
if desirable, in which event a corresponding deduc- 
tion will, of course, be made in your salary. The 
Board have also appointed you teacher of the French 
language for the first session of the college, with the 
privilege of retaining the whole amount from the 
pupils of that branch as a compensation." 

The engineering work referred to was on the Lit- 
tle Miami Railroad, then projected or building, of 
which Mitchel was chief engineer. It was a period 
when railroad enterprises were starting all over the 
country, and among the earlier roads that led from 
Cincinnati there was not one of which he did not 
make the surveys. As a railroad engineer he proved 
a marked success. His forte was always in work, 
laid out definitely before him, no matter with what 
inadequate means. There was a certain drive to him 
that overcame all obstacles. When a marsh or a 
river must be crossed he would accomplish his ob- 
ject in the quickest possible time, and by the most 
ingenious methods. 

In 1837 occurred the memorable bank riots in Cin- 
cinnati. The young professor had been chosen to 
the command of a military company, called the Citi- 
zens Guard, and when the mob attacked the banks 
he was ordered by the mayor to turn out his com- 



46 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



pany for their protection. He hurriedly got together 
twelve men. As each man was expected to fight his 
proportion of perhaps twelve thousand, or one to one 
thousand, the war was not successfully prosecuted. 
Mitchel marched his force into the midst of the mob, 
and, mounting a box, endeavored to effect by words 
what was evidently impracticable by forcible means. 
Nor was he deterred by the missiles that meteor-like 
darted about his head. At last he was ordered to 
retreat to the mayor's office. In passing up one of 
the streets that led from the river, the mob pressed 
somewhat closer than was deemed desirable, and he 
ordered his men to halt, and turn and fire. One un- 
lucky rioter, or spectator, was shot in the leg, which 
afterwards occasioned a suit in the courts for dam- 
ages. 

Arrived at the mayor's office, the little squad was 
advised to take off their uniforms and don citizens 
dress, that they might escape to their homes in safety. 
The captain, who never could learn the value of the 
maxim, " Discretion is the better part of valor," de- 
clined to undergo the coat - changing process, and, 
drawing his sword, walked out in full regimentals. 
He was a small man, not over five feet six inches in 
height, and at no time weighed over one hundred 
and thirty pounds. But he had a firm-set face and a 
determined look which carried weight. As he strode 
through the mob that had been waiting to tear him 
to pieces, a way was opened for him through which 
he passed safely home. 

He was informed that during the night his house 
would be attacked by the mob. He was possessed 
of a couple of old flint-lock muskets, and it was 
agreed between him and his wife that she should 



ENGINEER AND PROFESSOR. 



47 



serve the guns while he fired. Fortunately the 
threats were not carried out. 

During the five years subsequent to Professor 
Mitchel's appointment to a chair in the Cincinnati 
College, he was laying the foundation for the main 
work of his life. His duties in the lecture-room in- 
cluded lectures on astronomy. Constant practice 
made him familiar with methods for expounding as- 
tronomical problems to his pupils, and his lectures 
were soon found to be so interesting that on special 
occasions members of the families of the students 
were glad to be admitted to listen to them. This 
led to an invitation to lecture in a more commodious 
place ; a considerable interest was awakened, and 
that course which led to the establishment of the 
Cincinnati Observatory soon followed. 

The only proposition that had been made to estab- 
lish an observatory in the United States was made to 
Congress by a President of the United States, John 
Quincy Adams, to be built and equipped and oper- 
ated with means drawn from the treasury of the 
government. None of the rich and cultivated com- 
munities of the eastern States had made any move 
whatever in this direction. Mr. Adams' proposition 
was ridiculed all over the country. What had been 
thus condemned, Mitchel proposed to the citizens of 
Cincinnati, a young, almost frontier town, — it had 
then a population of less than fifty thousand, — whose 
people might be expected to take more interest in a 
new manufactory, steamboat line, or railroad, than 
could be aroused for an observatory in half a cen- 
tury. 

In view of these facts, — the practical character 
of the people, their struggle for necessities and com- 



48 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



forts, to the exclusion of more remote objects, their 
natural disposition to view an observatory as one 
thing that they certainly did not need, especially in 
their youthful condition, — we are bound to regard 
this enterprise, undertaken by Professor Mitchel, as 
a hopeless task. 

We have noticed in him a tendency to schemes, 
which would not be entertained by the wise and pru- 
dent, but have not thus far seen any of his plans put 
to practice. Now we have reached a point where 
the most visionary of them is conceived and to be 
undertaken. Its success could not in any way de- 
pend upon chance. If carried through at all it could 
only be by lifting the members of the com mum ty, 
from which the means must come, from their lower 
practical prudent sense, and leading them into the 
more spiritual realms of the astronomer. 

And now the attention of the reader is directed to 
a fragmentary account of the building of the Cincin- 
nati Observatory, written by Professor Mitchel him- 
self, and given entire, without interruption, so long 
as the record is complete. Then the history must be 
continued and finished from other sources. 



VII. 



THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 1 

A BEGINNING. 

During the winter of 1841-42 I was invited to deliver 
a lecture, as one of a popular course given by the Cincin- 
nati Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. My 
subject was " The Stability of the Solar System." The 
lecture was listened to by a large and attentive audience ; 
considerable curiosity and interest seemed to be aroused ; 
the daily papers spoke favorably of the subject of the 
lecture, and requested the delivery of a short course upon 
the most interesting parts of astronomy. Some six weeks 
after this period, and when the subject had wellnigh passed 
from my mind, I ascended the rostrum in the lecture hall 
of the society at the moment when the president was an- 
nouncing to the audience that the lecture of that evening 
would close the regular course. One of the officers of the 

1 There is no one living who remembers the writing of this account, 
or the causes of it. It was found long after Professor Mitchel's death 
with other MSS., none of which had been overhauled for many years. 
It is probable, however, that it was in this wise : After the completion 
of the enterprise of which it is partly the history, Professor Mitchel 
used to tell a number of entertaining stories connected with the work, 
and especially of his trip to Europe as agent for the Cincinnati As- 
tronomical Society. Being urged to put the account into shape, he 
did so, but laid the work aside without finishing it. Whether it was 
intended for private circulation or publication is not known. Only 
portions of the original are here given, since the descriptions of places 
it contained would now be uninteresting, and foreign to the narra- 
tive. At the time of the occurrence of the events described Professor 
Mitchel was thirty-two years of age. The account was written partly 
then and partly soon after. 



50 



RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



society, while he was yet speaking, requested my consent 
to announce a few lectures from me on astronomy as a 
continuation of the series given under the auspices of the 
society. I consented to make the experiment by announc- 
ing one lecture for the following Monday evening, and 
added iu my announcement to the audience, that if they 
were pleased, we would then try the experiment who 
should tire first, they in listening or I in lecturing. 

In revolving in my mind the various means by which 
I might interest my hearers, the thought struck me that if 
I could present to the eye some of the magnificent pic- 
tures in the heavens revealed by the powerful telescopes 
of Europe, and thus illustrate each lecture with appropriate 
telescopic views, the subject might possibly be rendered 
sufficiently interesting to draw out an audience. The 
mechanical means of preparing these representations were 
now to be invented. My books furnished me with many 
beautiful plates exhibiting the figure of the objects which 
I wished to present to my audience, and a small telescope 
in my possession gave me the opportunity of verifying in 
some instances the accuracy of these delineations. 

After many abortive efforts a plan finally suggested 
itself which in the end more than realized my fondest ex- 
pectations. I succeeded in forming within a box a power- 
fully and equably illuminated surface. In front of this 
surface, and in the same box, I interposed an opaque sur- 
face which had wrought upon it and through it the figure 
of the object I designed to represent. The light from the 
illuminated surface behind only appeared as it shone 
through the cuttings or piercings which formed the figure 
to be exhibited. By the interposition of colored screens 
my light was tempered to any color or shade which might 
be desired. Highly delighted with the success of my 
machinery, I prepared rapidly and easily the illustrations 
which were to accompany and elucidate my first lecture. 
I selected as my first subject Laplace's Cosmogony, his 
celebrated nebular hypothesis by means of which he ac- 
counts for the formation of the universe. 

The subject was novel and of itself deeply interesting, 



THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 51 



while the series of illustrations, consisting of nebulae of 
various forms, nebulous stars, double stars, comets, etc., 
gave me the opportunity of bringing home to the mind, 
through the medium of the eye, the wonderful series of 
evidences in support of this most wonderful theory. 

Ou the first evening my audience was respectable, on 
the second evening my house was filled, and on the third 
it was overflowing. During the entire course every oppor- 
tunity was taken to lay before my audience the exceeding 
beauty and wonderful magnificence of the heavens as seen 
through the great telescopes abroad, as I had conceived in 
the outset some rude notion of a plan by means of which 
we might be placed in possession of an instrument in all 
respects comparable with the finest in Europe. From the 
history of the celebrated Dorpat Equatorial, manufactured 
by Frau enh of er of Munich, and sold at cost to the Em- 
peror of Russia, I learned that its cost did not much exceed 
five thousand dollars. This amount did not appear to me 
to be beyond the possibility of being reached, and the more 
familiar I became with the thought the smaller it seemed, 
until finally 1 fixed in my mind the sum of seven thousand 
five hundred dollars as the amount which should form the 
lowest limit, and this sum to be appropriated for the pur- 
chase of instruments alone, leaving to future effort the 
additional sums which might be needed in the accomplish- 
ment of the enterprise. 

My lectures were continued until about the last of April, 
when I drew the course to a close, feeling that a sufficient 
impression had been made to warrant an attempt to put in 
execution a plan which I had digested and deliberately 
adopted, with the full purpose of carrying it out to com- 
pletion. The last lecture of the course was received with 
uncommon favor, and I received a written request, signed 
by many of my audience, to repeat it in the great Wesley 
chapel, a church which it is said will hold some two or 
three thousand persons. 

I consented to comply with the request ? and having 
selected some of my finest telescopic views, I determined 
to announce my plan at the close of the lecture and com- 



52 



OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



mence at once the execution of it. The evening came 
round, and the chapel was crowded with an audience pre- 
cisely such as I would have chosen could the selection have 
been placed in my hands. At the close of the lecture I in- 
formed the audience that for a few moments I desired their 
attention to a matter of deep interest to me, and one which 
I was confident, from what I had just seen and heard, 
would receive their cordial approbation, if not their hearty 
cooperation. I remarked that up to this time our own 
country had taken no part in the great movement in 
astronomical science, which during the present century 
has been attended with such wonderful discoveries. Ours 
was a belief founded most emphatically on faith and not 
on sight. While the nations of Europe were vying with 
each other in the career of discovery, the United States, 
not less deeply interested mentally and commercially than 
any nation on earth, was lying indifferent, while from the 
Old World the finger of scorn was pointed at our profound 
republican ignorance. "We had literally done nothing. 
"While Russia with its hordes of barbarians boasted the 
finest observatory in the world, our own country with all 
its freedom and intelligence had been recently reported by 
the Astronomer Royal of England not to possess a single 
observatory within all its vast extent. It had been even 
said that the efforts in Congress had forever sealed the 
fate of astronomical science in this country. The govern- 
ment could never become the patron of astronomy, since 
no representative would risk in its defence his reputation 
for sanity. The Scientific were too few and too poor to 
attempt any great enterprise ; while the wealthy were too 
indolent and too indifferent to lend their aid extensively 
to a matter of which they knew but little. 

"What, then, can be done ? The answer is easy and 
simple. I will go to the people, and by the anvil of the 
blacksmith, by the workbench of the carpenter, and thus 
onward to the rich parlor of the wealthy, I will plead the 
cause of science. I have resolved to raise seven thousand 
five hundred dollars ; and my plan is this : Divide the entire 
sum into three hundred shares of stock, each share being 



THE C IN CI XX ATI OBSERVATORY. 



53 



valued at twenty-five dollars. Every person who purchases 
one share of stock becomes a member of the society, and 
shall forever enjoy the privilege of examining these beauti- 
ful and magnificent objects through one of the finest glasses 
in the world. Xo one becomes bound until the three hun- 
dred shares are taken. My resolution is fixed, and I shall 
visit personally one thousand of our citizens and be refused 
by each and every one before I will yield and resign the 
effort. I am determined to show the autocrat of all the 
Russias that an obscure individual in this wilderness city 
in a republican country can raise here more money by 
voluntary gift in behalf of science than his majesty can 
raise in the same way throughout his whole dominions. 

Encouraged by what I have seen, to-morrow I begin my 
visits, and all I ask is courtesy and kindness at your hands. 

Many among those who were present that evening felt 
a disposition to become one of three hundred, but few, 
very few, believed it possible to raise so great a sum for 
such a purpose. Many pronounced the whole scheme as 
wild and impracticable, while others declared that seven 
thousand five hundred dollars could not be raised in as 
many years. 

The execution of the plan was commenced, not so much 
with the expectation of raising a given sum in a given 
time, as with the fixed determination of redeeming the 
pledge publicly given to visit one thousand citizens before 
the scheme should be relinquished. Looking at the effort 
in this light, there could be no disappointment, since every 
individual upon whom I might call would be one of the 
thousand, if not one of the three hundred stockholders. 

Between three and four hours were devoted during the 
first afternoon and evening, and about one hour of the fol- 
lowing morning before the regular college duties commenced. 
To the utter astonishment of every one this short time was 
sufficient to take up the sum of one thousand dollars. With 
such a commencement, there could be little uncertainty as 
to the final result. All classes in our community were 
visited indiscriminately, and individuals from every circle 
in society became stockholders and members of the society. 



54 



OR MS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



A very few took two shares, one individual three, and one 
other five shares, while the great mass of stockholders sub- 
scribed for but one share each. The number who declined 
subscribing from various causes were in about the ratio 
of four to one, so that it was found necessary to call upon 
about twelve hundred citizens to procure three hundred 
stockholders. A few minutes were spent with each indi- 
vidual, during which time it was ascertained pretty certainly 
which way his decision would turn, and instead of attempt- 
ing to carry the point with those who were entirely 
indifferent, they were left after a few moments' explana- 
tion, and the search was continued until a person some- 
what interested could be found. In the latter case the 
result was almost invariably the procurement of a stock- 
holder. 

At the close of the third week from the commencement 
of the effort to take up the stock it was announced that 
three hundred shares were subscribed. A meeting of the 
stockholders was held on the evening of May 23, 1842, at 
which time a constitution was drawn up and adopted. On 
the following evening under the constitution the society 
met, and the officers, consisting of a president, secretary, 
treasurer, and astronomer with twelve directors, were 
elected to serve for one year. The Hon. Jacob Burnet, 
one of the oldest and most distinguished citizens of the 
West, was elected president. William Goodman was elected 
treasurer, and M. G. Williams, secretary. The following 
gentlemen were elected directors of the society, viz. : E. 
Poor, J. H. Perkins, E. D. Mansfield, H. Storr, Jno. P. 
Foote, J. T. Brooke, J. Jonas, G. P. Torrence, J. P. Har- 
rison, M. Greenwood, and M. T. Williams. 

A Board of Control, consisting of all the officers of the 
society, including the future director of the observatory, 
were intrusted with the management of the affairs of the 
society. An excellent spirit pervaded the meeting, and 
at its close some forty names were added to the stock 
list. 

On the a meeting of the Board of Control was 

convened, and the director was requested to present some 



THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 55 



plan of future operation. The rapidity with which the 
enterprise had been carried forward had quite disarrauged 
my early plans. Presuming that six months would be 
required to obtain the subscription of three hundred 
shares, the terms of payment did not anticipate any call on 
the subscribers before the 1st of October, about six months 
from the date of the first subscription. It was intended to 
occupy the remaining part of the year 1842, and the spring 
of 1843, in collecting and in extending the subscriptions, 
while it was hoped that the summer of 1843 might be 
passed in Europe in procuring instruments, examining ob- 
servatories, forming acquaintances with scientific men, and 
in obtaining that practical knowledge of the conduct of an 
observatory which might enable me not only to erect the 
buildings and mount the instruments, but commence their 
scientific applications to the uses for which they were de- 
signed. 

Such were the statements made to the Board. After 
deliberating on the subject, the unanimous opinion was 
expressed that it would be disastrous to the interests of 
the society to stop for a moment in the prosecution of the 
enterprise so successfully commenced. The inquiry was 
made whether my private affairs would permit me to spend 
the summer of 1842 in Europe, instead of that of 1843. 
A difficulty in the execution of this plan presented itself 
in the fact that no subscriptions could be called for in 
less than five months. This could only be obviated by 
the voluntary payment of the subscribers. The Board of 
Control, having resolved that the enterprise should be 
prosecuted with the least possible delay, called a meeting 
of the society, presented their plans, and received their 
sanction. The sum of one thousand dollars was paid in in 
the course of a few days, and the following letter was 
addressed to me by the Board of Control through the 
president of the society : 

Cincinnati, June 15, 1842. 

OmiSBY M. MlTCHEL. 

Sir : In conformity with a resolution of the Board of 
Control of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, you are 



56 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MIT C BEL. 



hereby authorized and requested to visit Europe as soon 
as your business will permit, for the purpose of procuring 
a telescope and such other instruments as the society may 
require. 

You are aware that it is the desire of the association to 
obtain the most perfect instruments which can be procured, 
and that they rely on your judgment and skill to make the 
selection, or to give the directions for their construction, as 
may be the case. 

It is believed that the sum now subscribed by the mem- 
bers, amounting to seven thousand and five hundred dol- 
lars, will be paid in October, and that in any arrangement 
you may see proper to make, you may safely calculate on 
that result. 

It is desirable that you keep the society, through their 
Board of Control, advised of your movements and progress, 
and particularly of any contracts and pecuniary arrange- 
ments you may find it necessary to make in discharge of 
the trust conferred upon you by the society. It is also 
expected that you will not extend your engagements 
beyond the means at the disposal of the Board. 

J. Burnet, President. 

M. G. Williams, Secretary. 

Having thus received my instructions from the society, 
letters were procured which might facilitate my movements 
in Washington, through which place it was my design to 
pass, with the hope of receiving from the heads of depart- 
ments such assistance as they might feel disposed to extend 
to an enterprise in which, it was believed, the government 
of the United States could not fail to take considerable 
interest. 

No difficulty of importance had thus far presented itself, 
except that growing out of the offer of one of our mechan- 
ics to construct the instrument required by the society, in 
our own city. As this department of mechanical ingenuity 
had not been cultivated in the United States, the society 
regarded it as too hazardous an expenditure of their funds 
to form a contract which in the end might disappoint their 



THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 



57 



hopes. After a full discussion of the subject it was con- 
sidered wiser to order instruments from the most skilful 
opticians and mechanics of Europe, trusting that with these 
as models, American skill and science might one day rival 
the productions of foreign artists. 1 



1 A hope that has more than been fulfilled. 



VIII. 



A STAGE-COACH JOURNEY. 

A sudden plunge into new scenes, the responsibilities 
incident to new relations, and the whirl of rapid change 
and unceasing variety, cannot fail to excite even the most 
phlegmatic of mankind. Called suddenly and somewhat 
unexpectedly to leave my home and family, it was not 
without a gush of feeling,, which I shall not attempt to 
describe, that I sprang from my own door into that of the 
stage-coach, and buried myself and my emotions among 
a crowd of passengers which filled the inside, while not a 
few were perched, in the full blaze of a hot June sun, 
upon the exterior. Each rising sun that should greet me 
for weeks to come was to fling its early beams full into 
my face, as if to beckon me onward, and cheer me in the 
long journey which now lay before me. I had turned my 
back upon the West, not disrespectfully, but with the 
hope of returning to it again better prepared to play the 
part which seemed to be assigned me on the stage of life. 
It seldom happens that the stage-coach always leaves the 
city of Cincinnati as crowded as the one into which I 
squeezed myself with no trifling effort at compression. It 
happened that the day of my departure was made memo- 
rable not only by that incident, but by the additional cir- 
cumstance that upon this same day a political convention 
was to be held some thirty miles from the city, and on 
the mail route. Several of the insides and all the out- 
sides were bound for this anticipated gathering of the 
people. 

I was no stranger to those by whom I was surrounded, 
and soon found relief for my excited feelings in the con- 



A STAGE-COACH JOURNEY. 59 

versation of Colonel A., an old acquaintance, but who was 
ignorant of the causes which were sending me from our 
city, iii consequence of having himself but recently returned 
home after an absence of several weeks. The colonel, an 
exceedingly amiable and polite gentleman, commenced the 
conversation by the question as to my destination, suppos- 
ing that, like himself, I had been seized with the idea that 
the affairs of the nation demanded my supervision, and that 
consequently I was speeding my way with all haste to the 

great convention at L . 

When informed that I should not stop short of Lon- 
don, would probably visit France and Germany, and that 
I might possibly extend my journey to the imperial capital 
of the Czar of Russia, my friend looked at me in pro- 
found astonishment. Knowing me to be rather a staid and 
quiet citizen, and in no way given to joking, he was quite 
amazed at my words, and not a little perplexed how to 
understand them. I relieved his astonishment by giving 
him a brief sketch of the recent movement in our city, 
which, in so short a space and during his absence, had 
resulted in making it necessary for me to visit many im- 
portant points in Europe. I can only say that the effect 
of my statement was such as to convert my friend into 
an ardent supporter of the enterprise in which I was en- 
gaged. 

A rapid journey over a good macadamized road soon 

brought us to the town of L , where I parted from 

most of my city friends, — they soon to return to their 
friends and accustomed vocations, while every hour for 
many a day and week was to separate me farther and still 
farther from my wonted scenes. 

The night closed in upon us between the town of Xenia 
and the Yellow Springs ; and the conversation, which had 
circulated briskly after the excitement of a comfortable sup- 
per, gradually lulled to a perfect calm, and at length, by 
mutual tacit consent, each was left to his own reflections 
as precursors to whatever of sound sleep he might catch 
during a first night's coach travelling. I cannot vouch for 
the train of thought which passed through the minds of 



60 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



my fellow-travellers. I found my mind, fortunately, in a 
kind of calm, such as is sometimes produced by the meet- 
ing of two opposite and swiftly rolling currents of water. 
So the current of thought, touching all I had left behind, 
was stilled by the opposing current of anticipation which 
came rushing in from the dim shores of the unknown 
future. 

The morning dawned upon us within a few miles of 
the capital of the State of Ohio, and as the fii>t rays of the 
morning sun lighted the spires of this beautiful city we 
drew up full in front of the Kiel House. When the hour 
of our departure had arrived I mounted on the outside, 
above the driver, in the mail coach, and was soon rattling 
over the national road for Wheeling. We breakfasted at 
Cumberland on the morning of the third day from Colum- 
bus, and here, on leaving, found our numbers increased by 
the presence of a quiet, unobtrusive, middle-aged gentle- 
man, who, in English phrase, "booked" himself for Balti- 
more. As the party inside had already formed such an 
acquaintance with each other as to feel much like a travel- 
ling family, the stranger was received with politeness and 
welcomed to our social circle. The contemplated speedy 
completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far as 
the city of Cumberland, was naturally suggested by the 
locality as a topic of conversation. The remarks made 
upon this subject by the stranger gave evidence of intelli- 
gence not only with reference to this particular road, but 
on the subject of engineering generally. I became inter- 
ested, and soon learned that the gentleman was Dr. Patter- 
son, a resident of Philadelphia, and. upon inquiry, I found 
that he was intimate with a number of scientific gentlemen 
in that city, to whom I was anxious to pay a flying visit as 
I should pass through Philadelphia on my way to the city 
of New York. A stage-coach is a capital place to form 
an acquaintance ; and on arriving at the relay house near 
Baltimore, on exchanging cards. I was gratified to find 
in my new acquaintance the superintendent of the United 
States Mint, — a most polite and amiable gentleman, as 
the sequel will show. The train of cars going into Bal- 



A STAGE-COACH JOURNEY. 



61 



timore met the Washington city train coming out, at the 
relay house, and in three minutes, the exchange of pas- 
sengers and their luggage having been made, we found our- 
selves flying at twenty miles per hour towards the city of 
Washington. 



IX. 



WASHINGTON. 

Early on the morning after my arrival at Washington 
I found myself at Gadsby's, inquiring for the whereabouts 
of the member of Congress from the Cincinnati district. 
Having learned his residence, and waiving for the present 
the rules of fashionable etiquette, I made my bow to the 
Hon. Mr. Pendleton, and in a few minutes informed him 
of the object of my call and of the reasons for my visit to 
Washington. I wished to secure such letters from the 
heads of departments, as might assist me in accomplishing 
the objects which were leading me to Europe. 

I was the bearer of letters to the Secretary of State, 
the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the President of the 
United States, from personal friends in the city of Cincin- 
nati ; also a letter from the Hon. Judge Burnet, president 
of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, whose agent I was. 
Colonel Pendleton politely offered to accompany me, in my 
calls upon these dignitaries, to effect by his presence a more 
speedy access. 

We paid our first visit to the Secretary of State, who 
was already at an early hour in his public office. I had 
seen Mr. Webster once before. Several years had rolled 
round, and extraordinary changes in his political relations 
had in the mean time taken place. One glance at the 
strongly marked features of his countenance, which now 
wore an air of peculiar sternness, plainly told that the 
changes through which he had passed had not been unac- 
companied with fierce conflicts and mighty struggles, which 
had, literally, dug their traces upon his care-worn face. 
The Ashburton treaty was at this very time upon his hands, 
and was, perhaps, at this very moment torturing his mind 



WASHINGTON. 



63 



with some of its vexed and perplexing questions. The sec- 
retary sat in his chair and received us not with courtesy, 
and yet not with indifference, but with a look which spoke 
as plainly as language could have uttered it, " Well, gentle- 
men, your business ; I have no time to bandy compliments." 

Interpreting the look and acting upon it, I addressed 
him much after the following fashion : We have raised in 
our city by voluntary contribution a sum sufficient to lay 
the foundation of a great observatory. It will be the first 
in our country. I am the agent of the contributors, and 
am on my way to Europe to acquire the knowledge neces- 
sary to build, .furnish, and conduct such an observatory. 
As the objects to be accomplished by this enterprise are 
national, some interested have thought that the government 
might so far assist the association as to make its agent the 
bearer of despatches to some foreign court ; and if this be 
impossible, the association requests that I may be furnished 
with such letters to our ministers abroad as may facilitate 
my operations while in Europe. 

Mr. W T ebster's reply was more condensed and laconic. 
" To make you bearer of despatches, and thus pay in part 
your expenses, is impossible. Congress has deprived me 
of the means of paying for any such services. I will write 
you a letter, sir, if I find time." Here closed the inter- 
view. 

From the State Department we proceeded to the Treasury 
buildings, and were speedily ushered into the presence of 
the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Forward was cour- 
teous enough to express a deep interest in an enterprise so 
novel, regretted that want of acquaintances abroad would 
place it out of his power to serve me in that particular, but 
hoped that I would command him in anything touching 
any objects I might have to accomplish in Washington. 

Thus far it will be seen I had accomplished nothing. If 
my success with the President should prove as equivocal, 
I would leave my own country with very little to hope for 
from the exertions of the heads of departments in my be- 
half. From the Treasury Department we made our way 
through the beautiful park which surrounds the Presi- 



64 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT C BEL. 



dent's house, and, passing through a suite of apartments, we 
were soon in the private office of his Excellency. 

As briefly as possible I opened to Mr. Tyler the object 
of my visit, and referring to the vast expenditures which 
had been made in behalf of astronomical science in almost 
every civilized nation of the world, to the high interests 
which our own nation, eminently commercial, had in the 
subject, expressed a hope that, if consistent, our enterprise 
might be regarded with a favorable eye by the govern- 
ment, and that its agent might receive at his hands some 
public commission, which might in part defray the expenses 
incident to such a tour as he was about to take. The 
President did not seem to be particularly struck with my 
eloquence, or with the importance of the enterprise ; but an 
idea suggested by the subject seemed to take entire posses- 
sion of his mind, and he expatiated largely upon the vision- 
ary scheme entertained by a former President of erecting 
a national observatory, which he pleasantly termed the 
" light-house of the skies ; " not that this expression was 
original, but was the one which was insultingly bestowed 
upon the enterprise by the political opponents of the per- 
son who warmly recommended tiiis highly important na- 
tional measure. The President laughed most heartily at 
the exceeding humor which seemed to be somewhere en- 
veloped in this view of the matter, and more especially at 
the idea of having been called upon by the ex-President, 
and urged to recommend this object as one of special in- 
terest to Congress. 

As I had been somewhat prominent in the recent move- 
ments in behalf of an observatory at Cincinnati, for which 
I had just been soliciting the patronage of his Excellency, 
the exceeding mirthfulness on his part, although it plainly 
showed that the exalted station which he occupied had not 
deprived him of the use of his risible muscles, yet upon 
the whole I could not avoid feeling that the President was 
laughing at me over the shoulder and behind the back of 
Mr. Adams. This, however, I am confident was an uninten- 
tional insult, partly from the fact that his Excellency very 
promptly offered to exert himself in my behalf, and prom- 



WASHINGTON. 



65 



isecLto present the subject to his Cabinet council that very 
day, requesting me to be particular to call and see him at 
the same hour on the next, but more especially because 
that five months after this interview the President, in con- 
junction with his Secretary of the Treasury, found it pos- 
sible so to construe an act of Congress, making appropria- 
tions for buildings for the reception of the instruments 
belonging to the Navy Department, as to find authority to 
send an agent to Europe with a letter of instructions, al- 
most an exact copy of the one which I then bore from the 
Cincinnati Astronomical Society, and which was shown to 
the Secretary of State and others in Washington. The in- 
struments ordered, under the construction of this act, are 
of the finest quality and of the largest dimensions, while 
the buildings destined to receive them are to harmonize in 
all respects with the beauty and perfection of the instru- 
ments. I therefore conclude that one who in so short a 
space of . time could devote himself with so much energy 
to the accomplishment of this great national object, could 
scarcely have intended to have then treated it with derision. 

With the express invitation to call on the next day I 
took my leave of his Excellency, deeply impressed with his 
enlarged views of science, and especially with the pecul- 
iarly droll and facetious manner he had of paying a com- 
pliment. 

From the President's house, still under the guidance of 
my friend Colonel Pendleton, we proceeded to the Capitol. 
I knew that Mr. John Quincy Adams, while engaged in the 
investigation of this same subject, had made an interesting 
report to Congress, and had corresponded with Mr. Airy, 
the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, England. Anxious to 
make the acquaintance, and to obtain the advice, of so dis- 
tinguished an individual, I sought an introduction and was 
met with cordiality and kindness. I received an invitation 
to spend the evening at his boarding-house, at which time 
he promised to furnish me with his report and such letters 
as I might desire. This was an unexpected attention, and 
one which I need not say was highly appreciated. After 
a short interview in the hall of the House of Representa- 



66 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT C BEL. 



tives we separated, with the expectation of meeting again 
in the evening. 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in forming 
the acquaintance of the Ohio delegation in Congress, a mat- 
ter which I was beginning to think might prove of some 
value to me, in case all other resources should fail. 

At an early hour in the evening, agreeable to appoint- 
ment, I paid my respects to Mr. Adams. I was received 
with a quiet dignity of manner which marks the character 
of this extraordinary man. He was pleased to make spe- 
cific inquiries touching the origin of our enterprise, and as 
I developed rapidly the history of our movements, our 
future plans and prospects, if not really warmed into an 
excited interest in our behalf, he had the art of manifest- 
ing the identical feelings and actions which should have 
been prompted by the existence of such an interest. I had 
heard much of the profound research and extraordinary 
knowledge which distinguished Mr. Adams in every de- 
partment of political philosophy, history, and general litera- 
ture ; but I was not aware that the sciences had claimed 
any considerable share of his attention. I knew that he 
had been earnestly engaged in attempting to effect the 
erection of a national observatory, but I readily found so 
many reasons for such action, independent of any special 
interest he might have in astronomy, that I was not a little 
surprised to find myself in the company of one who seemed, 
to a good degree, even technically acquainted with this 
most abstruse and difficult science. He adverted to the 
reception which his report had met with from Congress 
and from the country, and expressed his satisfaction that 
an enterprise which he had vainly attempted to accom- 
plish nationally was likely to be accomplished by individual 
effort. 

I expressed some apprehensions with reference to the 
possibility of gaining access to the European observatories, 
at least on such a footing as would permit me to examine 
in detail the mode of their operations. Mr. Adams re- 
marked that he had corresponded with Mr. Airy, and al- 
though not personally acquainted, he felt justified in giving 



WASHINGTON. 



67 



to me a letter of introduction, commending the cause 
which I represented to the special attention of that emi- 
nent individual. 

Gil Bias has somewhere remarked that there is an air 
of dignity and superiority which always surrounds great 
men, in the eyes of the humble, especially when they are 
known to be great. The same veritable author very prop- 
erly adds that this air of superiority is greatly enhanced in 
the estimation of an obscure individual, if by chance he 
meets with some special mark of favor or attention from 
an exalted personage. Whether this truly philosophic rea- 
soning applies in my own particular case or not, I leave the 
sagacious reader to decide. I had recently left the pres- 
ence of the President ; I was now in the company of one 
who was not invested with the insignia of lofty power, and 
yet the feelings of profound respect with which I looked 
up to the one were only equalled by those of indifference 
with which I regarded the other. The evening passed 
rapidly by being deeply interested in the conversation of 
this truly remarkable man, and I was not a little surprised 
to find I had been too long trespassing upon time which 
was constantly occupied in the duties incident to his official 
station. On taking my leave he presented me with a copy 
of his report, and promised to prepare for me a letter to 
Mr. Airy, which I might obtain by calling the next day at 
the Hall of Representatives. Thus ended the operations 
of my first day in Washington. I sought my own room 
at Gadsby's, and after a short review of the events of the 
day past commenced my plans for the next. 



A PRESIDENT'S PROMISE. 

The morning opened upon me with no very bright an- 
ticipations as to the results which I might be able to 
accomplish during the day. A chilling influence com- 
menced creeping over me when I remembered that here 
at home, in the capital of my own country and among my 
own countrymen, and, yet farther, among those to whom I 
was the bearer of letters from personal friends, so little 
interest had been manifested in an enterprise which, it 
would seem, ought at least to command the respect of 
those in whose hands are found the welfare of the nation. 
I could not but look forward to the future with somewhat 
gloomy anticipations. What could I expect better among 
foreigners than I had met with from my own countrymen ? 
And should such be my reception abroad, I might return 
as I went, without accomplishing one half my wishes or 
those of the society. 

Having written my notes, read the papers, and break- 
fasted, I inquired at the bar 1 for letters, and was pre- 
sented with a package which bore the marks of having 
been directed in the Department of State. The reflection 
passed rapidly through my mind that if Mr. Webster was 
not particularly amiable, at least he was exceedingly 
prompt and business-like. I broke the envelope, and to 
my surprise found it contained a sealed letter directed 
to Mr. Everett, our minister in London. What could this 
mean ? Had the Secretary of State suddenly changed his 
views and made me bearer of despatches to the court of 
St. James ? I looked in vain for explanation. Not a scrape 

1 In American hotels at that time the har and the office were to- 
gether, and always called the bar. 



A PRESIDENT'S PROMISE. 



69 



of a pen could be found ; nothing but the equivocal sealed 
letter, bearing upon its exterior the superscription Dan. 
Webster. I was somewhat perplexed, but having solved, 
in my own opinion, the mystery, I determined to visit Mr. 
Forward, the Secretary of the Treasury, who, being a West- 
ern man, I felt the distance by which I was removed from 
him less than that which separated me from the other dis- 
tinguished personages on whom I had called. Not finding 
his secretaryship in his office, and perceiving that it was 
the hour at which I had been requested to call and see the 
President, I made my way to his Excellency's mansion. 

I was met by a mulatto, who inquired if I had business 
with the President, and without waiting for a reply added, 
" If you have, sir, you cannot see him ; he does not receive 
company at this hour." I took out my watch and bade the 
negro tell his master that the person whom he had invited 
to meet him at eleven o'clock was waiting below. The 
only reply was that the President did not receive calls at 
such an hour, while he held his post between me and the 
door with most dogged indifference. After one or two 
unsuccessful attempts to induce him to take my card to the 
President, I turned upon my heel and was walking off, 
when his Excellency's gentleman usher called to me and 
said that if I would give him my name he would take it 
up, to which I paid no attention. 

I left the White House, and returned to Mr. Forward's 
office, where, after an attendance in the antechamber suffi- 
ciently long to give me ample time for reflection, I was 
informed that the Secretary had gone into his office, and 
desired that I might enter. 

"Well," said I, "Mr. Forward, I think I had better 
abandon the business on which we conversed yesterday, 
and return quietly home ; but first will you be kind enough 
to inform me, provided you will not be revealing cabinet 
secrets, whether his Excellency, the President, said anything 
at the council yesterday with reference to making me a 
bearer of despatches to the court of St. James?" While I 
uttered this sentence I quietly thrust into his hand Mr. 
Webster's sealed letter, adding that I had ventured to 



TO 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



come to him for information, inasmuch as I had been de- 
nied access to the President. Mr. Forward knew nothing 
of the President's promise of the preceding day, and I 
adopted this plan of arriving at the facts in the case. He 
looked awhile at the letter and then at .me, and finally- 
remarked that there must be some mistake ; that he was 
present at the council, bat that Mr. Tyler had not said 
one word on the subject. " Exactly," said I, " that is just 
what I anticipated. The President promised me that he 
would exert himself in behalf of the society which I rep- 
resent at the Cabinet meeting of yesterday, requesting me 
at the same time to call and see him at eleven to-day. 
This I attempted to do, but found it impossible even to 
get the servant to take my name to his master. Mr. 
Webster, it appears, has found time -to write one letter, 
and that is sealed, so that after remarking that it was im- 
possible to make me bearer of despatches, I am neverthe- 
less, from the appearance of that paper, to be intrusted 
with a sealed communication, if not sealed instructions, 
from the Secretary of State to our Minister in London." 

Mr. Forward remarked that there must be some mistake, 
and insisted that I should be seated. I told him that it 
was scarcely worth while ; that I had made up my mind 
that if it required the influence of official rank to insure 
my success abroad I had given up all ideas of success, and 
the sooner I returned home the better. 

Mr. Forward again insisted that I should be seated, and 
inquired into the particulars of my visit to Mr. Webster of 
the preceding day, and of my late effort to gain access to 
the President. After giving him a detail of the circum- 
stances, he insisted upon being permitted to send to Mr. 
Webster's office for an explanation of the sealed letter, 
which he said had doubtless been sealed ignorantly by a 
clerk, into whose hands Mr. Webster had passed it to be 
enveloped and directed to my address. This I consented 
to, and then Mr. Forward offered to accompany me to the 
President's, which I promptly declined, remarking that I 
had visited him the day before under the wing of a mem- 
ber of Congress, and if to-day I must seek the protection 



A PRESIDENT'S PROMISE. 



71 



of a secretary, I declined the honor of any further inter- 
views. 

After ten minutes' discussion of this point, I found that 
I could not continue to reject the reiterated offer of Mr. 
Forward without giving offence, aud as soon as the mes- 
senger returned from Mr. Webster's office, bringing the 
intelligence that he was out, we picked up our hats and 
walked through the lawn to the President's house. But 
here again I was destined to meet with discomfiture. Mr. 
Tyler was closeted with the Secretary of State, and under 
such circumstances even the Secretary of the Treasury 
thought it a breach of etiquette to send in his name. 

The only part of this affair which I regretted was that 
I had given some trouble to a really amiable and kind- 
hearted gentleman ; one who has since found that the 
honors and emoluments of the high station which he theu 
occupied were but poor compensations for the harassing 
solicitude by which he was then and since constantly 
annoyed. 

It was now twelve o'clock, and as I had determined to 
leave Washington at four, I proceeded at once to the 
Capitol, and through the assistance of the representative 
from Hamilton County, soon succeeded in assembling the 
Ohio delegation in one of the committee rooms. 

T related to them succinctly the history of my recent 
efforts, and requested that if they thought the object 
worthy of their attention, they would unite in a letter to 
our ministers in London and Paris. Having referred those 
who were not personally acquainted with me to my friends, 
Colonel Pendleton and Governor Morrow, I left the delega- 
tion together. The necessary letters were prepared before 
separation, which were signed by those present, and I 
received them before leaving the city. 

Thus far I had been so entirely occupied with business 
that I had scarcely allowed myself time to interchange the 
ordinary greetings with a number of old army friends and 
classmates whom I had met on the streets. On return- 
ing to my hotel from the Capitol I was pleased to meet 
several with whom I had been long associated in early life, 



72 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



and had two entire hours of delightful conversation before 
it was announced that the departure of the Baltimore train 
was at hand. I left the great metropolis of the United 
States without regret, and was soon flying with the speed 
of an arrow towards the City of Monuments. 



XL 



BY THE WAY. 

The customs which regulate the intercourse among 
travellers vary with almost every section of the world. 
On the western rivers, those who journey by steamboat 
feel that one part of their duty is to form the acquaintance 
of those by whom they are surrounded, and, by a mutual 
interchange of civilities, contribute as far as may be to the 
comfort and convenience of the voyage. This is true of 
travelling in the West and South generally, whether by 
stage, steamboat, or railway. In the eastern States, where 
the journeys are shorter, and where a more artificial state 
of society prevails, there is much less of social intercourse 
among those whom the accident of travel may chance to 
throw in each other's society. The distance from Wash- 
ington to Baltimore, forty miles, is accomplished in about 
two hours ; and although this would not seem a very loug 
while for one to be left exclusively to his own reflections, 
I did not feel by any means disposed to remain taciturn, 
even for so short a period. I therefore surveyed deliber- 
ately some twenty or thirty faces, by which I was sur- 
rounded, for the purpose of selecting the least forbidding, 
on the owner of which I meditated a direct attack. My 
eye finally rested upon the countenance of a gentleman of 
perhaps thirty-five years, which wore a cast of thoughtful- 
ness, and yet a hidden restlessness of the eye indicated to 
the close observer that he was on the lookout for something 
which might interest his attention for the time being. He 
was not so young as to be foolish, nor so old as to be in- 
sulted. He was not enough dressed to be a dandy, nor 
yet so meanly clad as to look on one with suspicion. 

I took a vacant seat immediately opposite the gentleman, 



74 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



and, looking him full in the eye, inquired in the most quiet 
manner possible, " Sir, is it really dangerous for one person 
to speak to another in this region of country ? " The man 
looked a little surprised at the salutation, and answered 
that he was not aware that there was any special danger 
to be apprehended. " Then if you promise not to bite, I 
propose that this sullen silence, this mutual suspicion which 
seems to pervade the whole company, be broken up, and 
that we go to talking like rational beings." — " Give me 
your hand," said the gentleman; "I was just thinking of 
the same thing myself. I meet you halfway with much 
pleasure." The others, seeing that the silence had been 
broken, followed the example, and in five minutes the 
sound of happy voices drowned the eternal hum of the 
grinding wheel and the snorting steam. I should not have 
mentioned this anecdote but for the fact that this curious 
acquaintanceship proved in the sequel to be of signal ser- 
vice under circumstances when nothing else would have 
served me. 

On reaching Baltimore we found the Philadelphia boat 
in waiting, and at day dawn the next morning we were 
safely landed in the city of Philadelphia. Here I had 
much to accomplish, and only a few hours to do it in. My 
plans were rapidly digested and as rapidly executed. The 
reader will remember an acquaintance formed in the stage- 
coach on the road to Washington, — Dr. Patterson, the 
superintendent of the United States Mint in the city of 
Philadelphia. At seven o'clock A. M. I took a hack and 
drove to his residence. He received me as an old ac- 
quaintance, and said he was ready to redeem his promise. 
We entered the hack and drove to the residence of Dr. A. 
D. Bache, President of the Girard College, but now con- 
nected with the Philadelphia Model High School. We 
found Dr. Bache at breakfast, and in two minutes in- 
formed him of the nature of our business. "Then," said 
he, " I '11 finish my breakfast some other time, for if you 
are to visit the Observatory and consult some half dozen 
gentlemen yet to be found in the short space of two hours, 
we had better lose no time in eating." We first drove to 



BY THE WAY. 



75 



the High School, where I had the opportunity of visiting 
the fine equatorial telescope purchased in Munich of 
Mertz, successor of the celebrated Frauenhofer. Here 
I was introduced to Professor Kendall, a young gentleman 
becoming every day more distinguished for his astronomical 
attainments. Having the principal charge of the instru- 
ment, he furnished me with all the information touching 
the dimensions, powers, performances, and mounting of the 
telescope. The focal distance is between eight and nine 
feet, and the entire cost, mounted, about two thousand 
dollars. This is at present the finest telescope in the 
United States. Having received from Professor Kendall 
assurances that a catalogue of the books in their astronom- 
ical library should be forwarded to New York, we left the 
observatory and drove to the residence of Mr. S. C. Walker, 
a distinguished astronomer, whose acquaintance I was 
anxious to form. A few minutes' conversation placed him 
in possession of the principal facts touching the enterprise 
in which I was engaged. The success attending the efforts 
which had been made appeared to him a matter of profound 
astonishment. " Eight thousand dollars ! " he exclaimed, 
"for such a purpose, in so short a time! Why, the thing is 
almost incredible ! We have now a transit circle which 
cost a thousand dollars in our city, and I do not believe I 
could raise fifty dollars to mount it in the whole city." 

Having made my arrangements with my Philadelphia 
friends to forward their letters to New York, as I could 
not wait to have them written, I left for the last-named 
city. 

While on the ferry-boat crossing the river Delaware, I 
observed near me, and seated on the same bench, a youth 
whose appearance greatl j interested me. His countenance 
was pale and careworn, his eye heavy, and his lips parched 
as with a fever, while the disordered state of his clothing 
gave testimony to his having been long a stranger to the 
tender solicitude of anxious relatives and friends. A pair 
of saddle-bags upon his arm seemed to indicate that he was 
from the West or Southwest, and from his whole appearance 
I judged it impossible that he could be a runaway from the 



76 RMS BY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



discipline of the parental roof. Having watched him for 
a few moments attentively, calling to mind his probable 
age, about sixteen years, the direction in which he was 
travelling, the part of the United States from whence he 
appeared to have come, and the season of the year, June, 
I decided in my thoughts that he was a Southerner, who 
had received a cadet's warrant, and that through one 
disaster after another he was working his way to the 
national Military Academy at West Point. With singular 
confidence in the correctness of my opinion, I seated myself 
near the young man, and addressed him with as much 
kindness of manner as I could command. I asked him if 
he were going to New York. He replied in the affirma- 
tive. I then inquired if he were going beyond the city. 
He told me he was going up the North River. " You 
stop at West Point, I presume," added I, with an emphasis 
which caused the young man to start. 

t£ From the moment I placed my eye upon you I decided 
that you were a new cadet, from the South, on your way 
to West Point, and I am not mistaken. Don't think me 
inquisitive, or disposed to thrust myself upon your confi- 
dence, but precisely sixteen years ago this month, I filled 
myself almost the identical position you now occupy, I was 
urging my way, friendless and alone, amid hardships and 
difficulties, to the same place whither you are bound, and 
this may account for my seeming disposition to pry into 
your own history." 

"Indeed!" said the young man this is very strange 
and very fortunate ; you, sir, perhaps can tell me what to 
do. I have now been four weeks on my way from Alabama : 
First I was sunk on a steamboat, and escaped with great 
difficulty to the shore ; I was then taken sick with a fever 
which lasted a week. When I recovered sufficiently to 
travel, I took the stage through the interior, and stopping 
the first day to dinner at a little village, the sheriff levied 
upon coach and horses, and here we were again left. My 
Southern money was scarcely good for anything, and peo- 
ple cheated me so that when I got to Philadelphia I was 
out of money, and was obliged to remain until I could 



BY THE WAY. 



77 



receive a remittance from the member of Congress who 
procured my warrant of appointment, which requires me 
to be at West Point on the 1st of June, and now it is 
nearly the last, and I fear I shall be dismissed the moment 
I reach there, after all my trouble." 

I told him that I was going directly to West Point, and, 
being familiarly acquainted with the superintendent and 
professors, it would give me pleasure to interest myself in 
his behalf, — a pledge which I did not fail to redeem. 

We reached New York in the evening, and on the fol- 
lowing morning, accompanied by my protege, I started on 
the steamer Troy for West Point. My principal object 
was to procure letters from my friend Professor Bartlet, 
who had visited Europe in 1839 with designs somewhat 
similar to my own. 

W 7 hile lost amid reflections of former days suggested 
by my approach to West Point, I was aroused from my 
reverie by the hoarse cry, " West Point baggage ! " and in 
a few minutes Buttermilk Falls, Old Fort Putnam, Gees- 
port, and finally the old familiar landing swept rapidly in 
sight. In company with my young stranger friend it was 
not difficult for me to realize once again, in all their primi- 
tive vividness, the impressions which my first landing at 
this place sixteen years before, had made upon my mind. 
Then I came unknown, friendless, and a stranger, among 
those upon whom I had been taught to look with sus- 
picion, and felt not unlike Riley 1 and his companions when 
shipwrecked upon the desolate coast of Africa. I found the 
counterpart of myself in the young man who accompanied 
me, and although I had attempted to reassure his mind, he 
could not but show that he felt no inconsiderable appre- 
hension at landing upon this formidable shore. Fortu- 
nately I met upon the landing an old friend, Professor 
Church, to whose kindness I commended the interests of 
my new acquaintance, and from the promises made and the 
interest excited, have every reason to believe that he re- 
ceived every mark of favor which could be consistently 
bestowed. 

1 Riley's narrative was a popular book at the time. 



78 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



I found the superintendent at his quarters, and indeed 
standing in his door, as I passed upon my way to the 
examination hall, where I expected to meet Professor 
Bartlet. 

A few moments' conversation gave me the opportunity 
of explaining to Major Delafield the nature of my visit 
to West Point, and the causes which were leading me to 
Europe. He expressed much surprise, and ventured to 
predict a series of most important results as the necessary 
consequences of so important an enterprise. I have met 
with no person in our own country who expressed a 
warmer interest or deeper solicitude in the final triumph 
of this first popular effort to sustain science, than did the 
gentleman with whom I was then conversing. 

Having closed my business at West Point, and having 
assurances that my letters should follow me the next morn- 
ing to New York, I took the afternoon boat of the same 
day, and found myself at eight o'clock in the evening in 
good quarters at the American Hotel, kept by the most face- 
tious of landlords, the well-known Cozzens. The follow- 
ing day brought me letters from all quarters, and finding 
myself now fully prepared to embark, on the morning of 
the 26th June I mounted the deck of the steamer Hercules, 
which was to be used as a tow-boat to take the packet 
ship Garrick 1 beyond the Hook. The packet was lying 
at anchor at some distance from the wharf, but after vari- 
ous delays incident to so great an event as the sailing of a 
Liverpool packet, we found ourselves safely on board the 
Garrick, and a few hours of heavy tugging bore us beyond 
the Hook. 

1 Of the old Dramatic Line. 



XII. 



OCEAN. 

" Me voici done hors d'Oviedo," exclaimed the renowned 
Gil Bias de Santillane, as he mounted his uncle's old mule 
and bade adieu to his native village. The wide world was 
before him, tilled, as he realized, with all imaginable ad- 
ventures. 

So may I exclaim, " Behold me, then, fairly out of sight 
of my native shore." The wide, unfathomable ocean 
stretches from our bark as a centre indefinitely around, 
and the dome of the blue heavens rests calmly upon the 
ocean's breast. The varieties of wind and wave, of calm 
and storm, and the vivid anticipation of something new 
and wonderful at every moment, keeps the mind constantly 
upon the stretch for the first few day.s, and, seasickness 
aside, fills up the time in a most pleasing manner. 

The idea of some indefinite impending danger which I 
have found annoys and harasses the minds of many who 
anticipate a sea voyage is the offspring of a depraved imag- 
ination. When such an one sets foot upon the noble vessel's 
deck as she lies sleeping at her mooring, " Why ! " says 
he, " there is no danger here." Again, as she heaves her 
anchors, and, spreading her broad pennons to the gentle 
breeze, sweeps majestically over the '• lark blue sea," he 
again exclaims, " There is no danger here." And as the 
breeze stiffens, and the ocean chops, and the distended sails 
lean to the rushing wind, and the proud ship, careering 
through the troubled waves, dashes from her prow the bil- 
lows, with feelings excited by the moving scenes, he ex- 
claims, " There is no danger here." And even when the 
wind stiffens to a gale, and the billows of old ocean rolling 



80 ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



and thundering onward in their wild career, now dashing 
the spars and rigging towards the clouds, and anon engulf- 
ing the vessel in the yawning abyss, when he sees the 
commander calm and imperturbed, and the crew moving 
quietly on with their accustomed avocations, and the brave 
ship rearing and plunging and yet fearlessly holding her 
way towards her destined port, even now he inquires, u Can 
there be danger?" and the most timid, when realizing the 
majesty of this glorious scene, is forced to answer, No. 

We had among our passengers five Americans, five Eng- 
lishmen, two Germans, one Spaniard, one Mexican, one 
Irishman, one English lady, making in all the respectable 
number of sixteen, in a cabin whose accommodations are 
ample for thrice the number. 

Of the Americans two were Yankees from Connecticut, 
bound for Ireland with wooden clocks — this is no fiction; 
one a Yorker, going to Liverpool to establish himself in 
mercantile business ; one an artist, 1 bound for Italy, from 
Ohio. Of the Englishmen, two were brothers, merchants in 
New York ; one a retired manufacturer, a dyspeptic, who 
had made the voyage to the States in search of health ; a 
gentleman and his wife from the north of England, who 
had been spending a year in traversing our country. The 
Germans, merchants from the West Indies, where having 
accumulated fortunes, they were on their return to spend 
them in comfort. The Spaniard, a Catalonian and a sea- 
captain. The representative from Mexico was a prince, 
the son of an emperor, and now in exile. Our friend from 
the Emerald Isle was a merchant of eminence and wealth 
in New Orleans. 

Our vessel was doubly manned, for among our steerage 
passengers were found eleven old man-of-war's men, just 
returned from a long cruise on an exploring expedition. 
A finer-looking set of fellows never trod the deck of a 
seventy-four. They had been discharged from the service 
on their return, and having nearly dissipated their five 
years' wages in a few weeks, in the city of New York, had 



1 Mr. Nathan Baker, of Cincinnati, travelling with Prof. Mitchel. 



OCEAN. 



81 



saved some fifty or seventy-five sovereigns to spend at home 
in merry Old England. 

They were on board as passengers, and at first resolved, 
most unchangeably, that they would not pull a line or 
touch a spar during the voyage. Three hours was quite 
sufficient to tire them with playing the gentleman, and 
doffing their dress -gear, and mounting the sailor- jacket, 
they were soon all at work, pulling and singing as if the 
very fate of the vessel depended on the strength of their 
muscles and voices. 

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 

Packet Garrick, June 29, 1842. 
The bright sun is dancing on the merry waves, and a 
clear sky is resting in an extended circle upon the calm 
surface of old ocean. Mounted the deck early to enjoy 
the freshness of the breeze, which is gently wafting us 
portward. 

On yesterday a solitary bird hovered round our ship for 
a time, and finally perched upon the rigging. It seemed 
uneasy and restless. I looked into its pensive eye, for it 
was close to me, and thought, perhaps it was some kind 
spirit sent to visit our lonely bark, to examine into our 
hopes and fears, and to whisper comfort to the downcast 
and desponding. It remained but a few moments, when it 
spread its tiny wings and left us, doubtless forever. 

Thursday Morning, June SOth. 
Another beautiful morning, but unfortunately its very 
beauty constitutes its least interesting feature. The sun 
has risen upon a waveless ocean, and our ship lies as still 
and motionless as a tired child on its mother's bosom. A 
dead calm ; and many an impatient look lowers upon the 
brows of our quiet cabiners. On yesterday we moved on 
charmingly under the delightful patronage of an eight- 
knot breeze. The vessel moved steadily and the hours 
flew, under the excitement of that wonderful game, learned 
in self-defence by all who do business upon the great deep, 
shuffle-board. 



82 



OR MS BY MACKNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



So goes the day on shipboard : what with eating, what 
with reading, what with playing shuffle-board, and what 
with chatting, the long day will wear away, and the still, 
calm evening with its soft balmy breath steals upon us. 

The sun sinks as it did to-night, unclouded, broad, full, 
and dazzling, flinging a beam of light athwart the still sur- 
face of the deep, straight and beautiful as a column of 
living flame, while the western wave glows with molten 
splendor. 

Eleven o'clock at night. 
I have just come in from pacing the deck. The pas- 
sengers have generally turned in, while some two or three 
still linger above to enjoy the beauty of the scene. A 
sweet south wind is gently wafting us over the smooth sur- 
face of the ocean, from whose sleeping bosom myriads of 
stars are reflected backward, as if the earth were removed 
and we were suspended in the centre of a crystal sphere 
gemmed with radiant diamonds. Jupiter and Saturn are 
slowly emerging from the eastern wave, while Venus, closely 
attendant upon the God of Day, refulgent with beauty, is 
gently sinking below the western waters. There is not a 
cloud visible, naught to be seen but the sparkling waves 
below and the sparkling heavens above. The breeze seems 
laden with the aroma of southern climes, untainted and un- 
contaminated by the reeking impurities of earth. 'T is a 
sweet scene, and yet how many enjoy it? A large majority 
of the few who might enjoy it are quietly snoozing in 
their close and narrow boxes, breathing an atmosphere in- 
fected with all imaginable odors, unconscious of the balmy 
air which wooes them. 

Saturday, July 2, 1842. 
On yesterday we swept merrily along, borne forward by 
an eight-knot breeze. Turned in at ten o'clock of course, 
expecting to make some forty miles during the night ; rose 
at five this morning, went upon deck, and learned to my 
inexpressible horror that we had been becalmed nearly the 
entire night. Those of the passengers who are seasick 
experience some mitigation of their woes in this transition 



OCEAN. 



83 



from roughness to quiet, for what they lose in distance is 
made up in freedom from the pangs of a mutinous stomach. 
But, alas ! I have no such pleasure in store. Never hav- 
ing been in any degree seasick, I begin to suffer an un- 
conquerable impatience when delayed by these miserable 
calms. The fact is, the captain is making the southern 
passage, and if report be not an uncommon liar, we are 
destined to encounter streaks of quiet from this to the head 
of Cape Clear. Horrible situation ! Dying of anxiety to 
commence active operations on shore, and here we lie, in 
the full blaze of a July sun, while the heavens are brass, 
and not a breath of wind even to flap the listless sail. Give 
me a gale, if it be favorable, rather than this intolerable 
calm. 

Broad, low, long-sweeping swells are coming in from 
the quarter whence came the last breeze, and the vessel, 
even to its minute rigging, is mirrored on their placid sur- 
faces. Passengers are hanging listlessly over the bul- 
warks, gazing into the deep below. The first mate, with 
his eye fixed upon maintop -gallant sail, is whistling for 
the wind with most persevering energy. The captain is 
leaning, with his chin buried in both hands, upon the cap- 
stan head, excogitating the probable influence of a long 
voyage on his owners' minds ; while the man-of-wars men 
are engaged in platting straw to make them hats to go on 
shore. From present appearances I think they need not 
hurry themselves, as they are likely to have abundant time 
to finish them unless things should take a sudden and most 
extraordinary change. So we go, down to-day, up to- 
morrow, rising and falling as the waves and with the wind ; 
and thus it should be. 

Monday, July 4, 1842. 
This is the anniversary of American independence, and 
though our ship is American her passengers are so divided 
that no effort will be made to raise even one shout for the 
star-spangled banner. Who could shout in such a calm ? 
unless it were to wake old Boreas, who must have fallen 
into a magnetic slumber. I have been remarking the 
effect of this delay upon our various passengers. The 



84 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



American Liverpool merchant, a bachelor, professes to be 
an optimist of the first water. If it blows a gale, all right, 
we move the faster ; if a calm overtakes us, so much the 
better, no danger of losing spars or rigging in a squall; if 
the fiery sun scorches the deck and fries out the tar and 
pitch from its pine surfaces, Well," he exclaims, " there 
is the greater chance of a thunderstorm and of a change 
for the better." 

One of the Germans, a tall, straight, active young man 
of twenty-eight or thirty, marches the deck with a hurried 
step, every now and then stamping and uttering some ex- 
clamation in a lingo unknown. The Mexican prince thrusts 
both hands in his pockets, and having lighted his everlasting 
cigar, seats himself composedly in the fore-topsail halyard 
rack, and watches his pets in the shape of two fleet-blooded 
horses, which he is taking from the United States to Lon- 
don, to take in the cockneys with their fast trotting. 

The Yankees play backgammon from morning till night, 
while the dyspeptic Englishman laments in measured strains 
the miserable plight in which we find ourselves. 

Last evening we were entertained by a most brilliant 
display of fireworks on a scale of magnificence seldom sur- 
passed. About nine o'clock a most beautiful aurora began 
to exhibit itself in the north. The horizon being unbroken 
we enjoyed the exhibition in its full perfection. There 
rested upon the ocean a flat segment of circular cloud, the 
upper part of which was illuminated, and from behind its 
surface there shot forth brilliant streamers of light mount- 
ing upwards to the very zenith, occasionally uniting and 
forming a crown of dazzling splendor. Rapid changes 
were constantly diversifying the entertainment while these 
"merry dancers" amused themselves and us for more than 
an hour. At length the cloud faded away, and the dis- 
play gradually vanished from the heavens. 

Eleven o'clock at night. 
About twelve o'clock to-day, whether from the whistling 
of the mate, the stamping of the German, or the puffing of 
the Mexican, a breeze sprang up and has been gradually 



OCEAN. 



85 



stiffening ever since. What a change it works in one's 
feelings ! Then all was listless indifference ; now all is 
active excitement, and, with a cloudless sky, we are sweep- 
ing through the waters with uncommon spegd. Every sail 
is full, and the good ship bends to the sweeping wind. 

An hour ago I was leaning over the bulwark at the 
stern, gazing intently upon the long train of phosphores- 
cent light left by the ship in her wake behind. I thought 
myself entirely alone, but on looking up caught the keen 
eye of that nondescript Mexican prince. He inquired the 
name of the beautiful star just setting, and, finding him to 
be in an inquisitive mood, I encouraged his questions until 
our conversation had taken a wide sweep among the celes- 
tial hosts. He is well bred, well read, intelligent, and yet 
there is something in his character which remains a kind 
of mystery. Nous verrons ! 

Wednesday, July 6, 1842. 
Another syncope to my hopes. The breeze, which for 
thirty-six hours has encouraged us with the prospect of a 
speedy termination of our voyage, died away last night, 
and here we are enjoying the delights of an unruffled 
ocean. 

What a queer medley is life ! I find myself meeting, 
day after day, upon terms of intimacy with a number of 
persons of whose existence a short time since I had not 
the slightest knowledge. Circumstances now bind us to- 
gether, but should we ever reach our destined port our 
bonds burst, and we fly to the four quarters of the world. 
We generally manage to kill an hour or two at dinner, 
which is served up in the most sumptuous manner ; not 
less than four courses each day are presented to tempt the 
abstemious beyond the bounds of moderation. 

On my right is seated my friend, the dyspeptic, an ex- 
ceedingly queer man. Kind, gentlemanly, and polite, well- 
read and intelligent, he weighs every word of every sen- 
tence which he utters with so much scrupulosity that you 
are under constant apprehension that he will break down 
in the middle of a sentence. On my left is seated he of 



86 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



the wife, most inveterately addicted to talking. The lady 
seldom or never makes her appearance at the table. Oppo- 
site are the two clock peddlers, young men of small educa- 
tion and limited experience. On their right, the brothers, 
English merchants of New York, amiable gentlemen enough, 
but somewhat opinionated. Next comes in order the bach- 
elor Liverpool merchant, already described as an optimist. 
Opposite this last is seated our only Irishman, merry and 
light-hearted as the youngest, though he is now advanced 
in the " sear and yellow leaf." So much for those who 
speak English. The other passengers I will leave to sketch 
some other idle hour. 

Long conversation with the Prince. His character and 
creed are rapidly developing, and if I mistake not he is an 
epicurean of the rankest school. He denies all difference 
between right and wrong, and his own pleasure is his only 
end and aim. He professes to believe that remorse for 
the most horrid crimes is a mere weakness, and unbecom- 
ing a noble mind. Such in substance is the moral or rather 
immoral creed of this enigmatical individual, and from his 
appearance I should suppose he had long lived up to his 
creed. His portrait is admirably drawn in James's novel, 
Morley Ernstein, in the character of Count Lieberg, who 
distinguishes himself by his villany and devil-reasoning to 
convince Morley that conscientious scruples touching the 
means employed in accomplishing his ends are evidences of 
a weak mind. 

An uncommon chilliness had filled the atmosphere dur- 
ing the morning, which, for the latitude in which we were, 
was so unusual that the captain pronounced without hesi- 
tation that we were within a short distance of ice. As the 
fog came and went, a lookout was stationed on the fore- 
castle, and having full confidence in the predictions of the 
skipper, all was excitement among the passengers. About 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon the fog cleared away and 
revealed one of the most beautiful sights I ever beheld. 

About a mile southeast of our vessel the diamond peaks 
of a huge iceberg were glittering in the beams of the sun. 
The sides were diversified with ravine and plain, lofty 



OCEAN. 



87 



precipices and beetling crags, from whose heights streams 
of foam were dashing and spouting and flinging up their 
spray in rainbow hues. The summit must have risen two 
hundred or three hundred feet above the level of the 
ocean, while the sides, in some instances, rose perpendicu- 
larly from the water's edge a hundred feet high, and in 
other cases sloped gently upward as if intended to bear 
the vegetation which belongs to real earth. As there was 
no danger from this dreaded stranger, we contemplated his 
sublime appearance with feelings of unmingled pleasure. 

Thursday, Utk July, 1842. 
Rose at daylight and mounted the quarter-deck. Found 
Old Ocean chafing under a twelve-knot northwester. Bil- 
lows rolling and the wild wind whistling merrily through 
our rigging. The skipper was standing on the deck wrapped 
in his sea-coat, and swaying to and fro to keep his centre 
of gravity within the limits of equilibrium. We were run- 
ning under "topsails," the top-gallants having been hauled 
in on account of the fierceness of the blast. Our vessel 
was dashing furiously through the angry waves, ever and 
anon riding on the broad back of some wandering billow, 
and then sinking deep into the yawning chasm which suc- 
ceeded. Thus have we been sweeping onward all day, 
confined principally to the cabin by the storm of rain 
which is raging without and by the crest of some aspiring 
wave which now and then leaps over our lofty deck. 

Friday Morning, 22d July, 1842. 
Five weeks to-day since I bade ma chere adieu. Ere 
this I expected to have been half over Europe, but the 
fates otherwise decree. Within one hundred and thirty 
miles of Liverpool and nothing but calms and head winds. 
If I am ever caught at sea again in a sailing-vessel when 
a steamer can be had for love or money, call me fool. 
True, we are comfortable enough if we can all trust in 
anything prospective. But there's the rub, and my time 
is oozing out, and nothing done or doing. Handcuffed; 
bound faster than even in a prison, and no chance for 



88 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



escape ; and to tantalize one still more, on the one hand is 
seen the coast of Ireland, and on the other the coast of 
Wales, and a steamer here, and a fishing-boat there, all 
moving forward, and we becalmed or bedevilled with head 
winds. Ah, give me terra firma, where, if all else fail, 
one can use his legs ! 

Sunday Morning, 24th August, 1842. 
Was waked this morning about half-past three o'clock 
by the skipper, who flung me the papers and announced 
that the pilot was on board, and that a tug steamer was 
rapidly approaching our ship to take her in tow. This 
was most agreeable intelligence. We reached Cape Clear 
Light on Monday evening, and have been the entire week 
baffled by head winds and calms, losing by the tide in the 
night what we had made during the daytime, until the 
patience of all is well-nigh exhausted. The steamer came 
alongside early this morning, and we are no longer subject 
to the capricious movements of wind and tide. It was a 
real pleasure to set foot on the steamer's deck. One could 
realize that the shore could not be far distant while in the 
full sound of the ringing of bells and knocking of steam 
machinery. 

Well, the English coast is rapidly rising above the hori- 
zon. The passengers have doffed their sea dress, and are 
scarcely the same persons in their land gear. The man- 
of-war's men have mounted their blue jackets and straw 
hats, and here is an end of this interminable sea voyage. 



XIII. 



LONDON. 

Others have written their " first impressions." 1 I will 
spare the reader, as far as possible, but it would be rank 
treason to the interest which attaches itself to this tour, to 
neglect the record of the first sight that greeted my indi- 
vidual eye on the coast of the Old World. The passengers 
stood in groups on the deck, each watching with eager 
curiosity for the first objects of life which might reveal 
themselves to the sight. The beach, which skirts the ocean 
for some miles near the city, began to be visible without 
the aid of the glass. I stood with this instrument in my 
hand, and a light haze which had rendered objects indistinct 
having cleared away, I brought up the glass, and followed 
up the outline of the beach. At length it rested upon a 
mass which gave indubitable signs of life, and resembled 
an ant-hill in commotion, or better still, a convention of 
Lunarians as seen through Professor Genthusen's great 
refractor. I watched the crowd with eager interest, won- 
dering what extraordinary cause could have assembled such 
a multitude on the beach on Sunday morning. 

My wonder was soon dispelled by the sudden separation 
of the crowd from the centre outward, when there were dis- 
tinctly revealed three equestrians with uncommonly long 
legs, mounted each upon a donkey of uncommonly low 
stature. They drew up abreast at the starting-point of 
the race-course, and then dashed forward at full speed, 
amidst the furious gesticulations and no doubt the deafen- 
ing shouts of the crowd which had assembled to witness 
this ludicrous exhibition. 

1 At the time this was written, a trip to Europe was a rarity. 
Travellers writing of these tours usually gave first impressions. 



90 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Had Columbus, attired in his magnificent costume, and 
surrounded by his officers in full uniform, been greeted on 
nearing the New World, to effect a landing, by such a 
spectacle, doubtless even his gravity, profound as it was, 
would have forsaken him. 

Having reached her anchorage, the Garrick prepared to 
disgorge the heterogeneous crowd which for near thirty 
days had been confined within the narrow limits of her 
bulwarks. 

We were soon on board a small steamer, which carried 
us to a landing-place of one of the magnificent docks of 
Liverpool. We lauded, and the bonds which had so long 
encircled us were rent asunder. The separation was touch- 
ing, and yet such was the excitement produced by again 
setting foot on solid earth that few felt it, beyond the 
moment. Under the guidance of our two English brothers, 
five of our party made our way to the Grecian hotel. The 
bells were just ringing out a merry peal, and the streets 
were filled with persons in Sunday garb hastening to church, 
It was a fair and beautiful day ; and although the city of 
Liverpool, on close inspection, is sufficiently dingy and 
dirty, yet so great was the contrast between my present 
and past conditions, that it seemed to me I had never be- 
held a more enchanting place. 

On Monday morning, precisely as the finger of the clock 
pointed to the hour, the signal at the railway station was 
given, and away we flew towards London. About ten 
o'clock in the evening we reached the city of Birmingham, 
where we stopped for the night. Between twelve and one 
o'clock of Tuesday, the smoke which enshrouds the great 
modern Babylon began to be visible, and such was the 
speed at which we were hurried along that we could scarce 
utter the exclamation, " Yonder is London ! " until we 
found ourselves in the midst of her magnificence and mis- 
ery, her palaces and prisons. 

The transition from the banks of the Ohio to those of 
the Thames, from the familiar scenes of Cincinnati to the 
gloomy magnificence and sombre grandeur of London, had 
been sufficiently rapid to make one feel as though enchant- 



LONDON. 91 

ment had wrought the wonderful change. Dazzled, bewil- 
dered, excited, the mind becomes the chaotic, tumultuous 
scene by which it is surrounded. At least such were my 
own sensations, when, after depositing my luggage at the 
Easton Hotel, I found myself rattling through this mighty 
Babylon, in search of a starting-point for the once impor- 
tant, but now by comparison insignificant, operations in 
which I was personally interested. 

In the company of a travelling companion, in less than 
thirty minutes after reaching the city I found myself 
threading my way through the streets of London, in search 
of the residence of a gentleman to whom I carried a letter. 
A short drive brought us to Fenchurch Street, and I was 
about to make my first London acquaintance. As natural 
scenery is said to stamp the impress of its character upon 
those who live in its midst, so it seems to me that citizens 
of this sombre metropolis must harmonize with the gloomy 
magnificence by which they were ever surrounded. It 

required the cordial manners of the excellent Mr. V n 

to dispel these preconceived notions. Having learned the 
object of my visit to Europe, every facility was promptly 
offered me. I accepted a note of introduction to the under 
secretary of the Royal Society, and having received infor- 
mation with reference to a suitable lodging- place, I took 
my leave, highly gratified with my first London call. 

From the residence of my new friend I drove to Somer- 
set House in the Strand. Somerset House was once the 
palace of the Protector Somerset, and occasionally used by 
Elizabeth and Anne of Denmark for the sittings of their 
respective courts. Here are the apartments of many of 
the learned societies of England : The London Royal So- 
ciety, The School of Design, The Society of Antiquarians, 
The Royal Geological and Astronomical Societies, — each 
and every one of which is but another name for the science 
or art they cultivate, — here concentrate their treasures, to 
be scattered by every breeze, and borne to every clime to 
bless and elevate mankind. 

I soon found myself in the apartments of the Royal 
Society, and though a little overawed by the majesty of a 



92 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



place rendered sacred by having been the theatre of action 
of such mighty intellects as those of Wren and Newton, 
and Bradley and Flamstead, and a host of others down to 
modern days, the frank and polite reception from Mr. 

R , the under secretary, soon dispelled any feelings 

but those engendered by the associations which crowded in 
through every avenue of thought and memory. One im- 
portant object was to secure an entrance into the Royal 
Observatory at Greenwich, upon such a footing as might 
permit me to penetrate the secret workings of a system 
which evolves such great results. Having unfolded in a 

few words to Mr. R the object of my visit to Europe, 

and my desire to examine the Royal Observatory, I was 
informed by him that Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, to 
whom I had a letter from the ex-President Adams, was 
then absent on the Continent, whither he had gone to ob- 
serve the eclipse of the sun, which occurred in July. He 
advised me, however, to deliver the letter which I bore, 
directed to Mr. Airy, to his confidential assistant, the Rev. 
Robert Main, who at that moment had the entire control 

of the observatory. Mr. R presented me with a 

number of valuable scientific tracts, published by the Royal 
Society, and having consumed as much of his time as I 
dared in a first visit, I retired with an assurance that Mr. 

R would afford me every assistance in his power, and 

with the request to call upon him in the most free and un- 
reserved manner for anything in his power to perform. 

My next visit was to Mr. Edward Everett, the Ameri- 
can Minister. A short excursion of about three miles 
along the most direct route from my lodgings to Gros- 
venor Place, part of it through Hyde Park, brought me 
to Mr. Everett's residence. The minister was at home, 
and I was ushered into his office. I introduced myself as 
an American just arrived in London, and presented him 
with the mysterious sealed letter already alluded to as 
furnished me by Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, as also 
a letter signed by the Ohio Congressional delegation. 
Mr. Everett examined my letters with deep attention, 
expressed a great interest in the enterprise which had 



LONDON. 



93 



brought me to Europe, and at once bade me call upon him 
without reserve for any assistance which it might be in his 
power to render. I received notes of introduction from 
the minister to several persons of distinction, among others 
one to Lord Brougham, and one to Dr. Roger, the Secre- 
tary of the London Royal Society. 

The urbanity and courtesy of Mr. Everett are only 
equalled by his learning and genius, which have given to 
him a reputation and respect wherever he is known. 

In the shop of Messrs. Troughton & Simms, distin- 
guished astronomical instrument makers, I was received 
with great courtesy by Mr. Simms. My letters to some 
extent unfolded the nature of my business, and I soon 
found myself in earnest conversation touching the various 
instruments necessary in a thoroughly furnished observa- 
tory. When Mr. Simms came to understand the magni- 
tude of my plans, and the superior size and perfection of 
the instruments which were wanted, he turned to me and 
bade me remark an individual engaged at the moment in 
earnest conversation with another in a distant part of the 
shop. The gentleman in question in the outward man 
exhibited nothing peculiarly striking in form or figure. 
The face was sufficiently English, though the figure was 
rather American. He was engaged in earnest and excited 
conversation. The eye flashed, the heavy eyebrow rose 
and sunk, while the expanded forehead, rendered more 
voluminous by a fall of the hair from the upper region of 
the head, bore striking testimony to the workings within. 
The vigor with which the conversation was prosecuted, 
the emphatic manner, the frequency and even violence of 
the gesticulation, all struck me and excited no small curi- 
osity to know who it was to whom my attention had been 
directed. 

" There," said Mr. Simms, " is the very man of all others 
whose acquaintance you should form. He can tell you 
everything and help you to everything, and will do it too, 
with the greatest pleasure. That is Mr. Sheepshanks, and 
when he finishes talking I will introduce you." 



94 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



I looked upon this distinguished astronomer with feelings 
of deep interest. There was an air of frank, open, inde- 
pendent action, accompanied with an energy and emphasis 
which strongly reminded me of my own countrymen of 
the " far West." Mr. Simms and I continued our conver- 
sation quietly, expecting every moment when the astron- 
omer would bring to a close the harangue which so deeply 
interested him. How many minutes rolled by while we 
were waiting I know not, but to me perhaps the minutes 
seemed hours, when finally the gentleman who had been 
receiving the instructions, or listening to the opinions of 
Mr. Sheepshanks, withdrew, and I was in turn presented 
as a stranger from America, in search of instruments of 
superior size for the Cincinnati Observatory. 

Having given me a hearty welcome to England, " Let 
me see," said he, — "the Cincinnati Observatory! I don't 
think I have heard of any such. Is it of recent origin ? 
I know you have some fine observers, but if I am not mis- 
taken they are like ourselves in some instances, sadly off 
for instruments." 

" No wonder," I replied, " you have not heard of our 
observatory, since it has as yet no real existence, and lives 
but in the hopes of some who perhaps are regarded as 
dreamers. We have formed in our backwoods city, on the 
banks of the Ohio, an astronomical society now number- 
ing more than three hundred members, and we have 
devoted " — 

" Stop ! " said Mr. Sheepshanks ; " did I understand 
you? an astronomical society! three hundred members! on 
the banks of the Ohio ! Three hundred astronomers in 
one city in the New World " — 

" Stop," said I, in my turn ; " all but the astronomers ! 
Our society numbers three hundred members, but, sir, they 
are from every rank, grade, and profession in life. From the 
hard-working mechanic to the retired merchant, from the 
butcher in his stall to the professor in his gown, all have 
joined in the accomplishment of a scientific enterprise, all 
have contributed and nearly in equal sums, and all hope to 
enjoy an equal advantage in the event of success. I am 



LONDON. 



95 



told the noble Duke of Northumberland has just presented 
Cambridge with a magnificent equatorial, and the Emperor 
of Russia has endowed Pultowa in like manner. In 
America we have no dukes, nor nobles, nor kings, nor 
emperors. The people constitute the imperial power, and 
the people have become the patrons of science. Ninety 
days ago and the Cincinnati Observatory lived but in the 
brain of a single individual. Now that individual stands 
before you with funds to purchase what your friend Mr. 
Simms says is not to be found in London, an instrument 
equal to that which, in the hands of Struve, at Dorpat, has 
done such signal service to astronomv. I come to see, to 
examine, to study, to learn, and I humbly beg the aid of 
your great experience, in accomplishing the objects of my 
mission." 

Here I halted, a little out of breath, while the astron- 
omer and the manufacturer looked at me with no small 
astonishment. " Indeed," said Mr. Sheepshanks, " you 
shall have my poor aid with all my heart. But tell me, is it 
possible that the people, the very people are your patrons? 
Why, I am corresponding with one of your countrymen in 
Washington, and he tells me they hoot at every one who 
mentions the idea of a National Observatory in the halls 
of Congress. Faith ! the people are better than their repre- 
sentatives. This is a most curious, wonderful affair, is n't 
it, Simms ? a democratic astronomical society. Well, sir, 
it is a great idea, and I hope you may realize all your 
loftiest wishes. What can I do for you ? How can I 
help you ? I am here at London, or rather at Greenwich, 
'observing,' for a few days. Oh, Airy is gone. That's a 
pity. He 's first chop in all these matters. He '11 be back 
perhaps before you leave. Consult him by all means, as 
to your plan of building, instruments, etc. By-the-by, Mr. 
Simms, where is that letter I left with you ? It is on 
this very subject." (Mr. Simms got the letter.) " Here," 
said the astronomer, " take that, return it when you finish 
to Simms ; you will find it contains some rough outlines. 
What can I do for you ? " 

Such is a specimen of the rapid overflowings of heart 



96 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



of a man who, if he does not bear the most euphonious 
name, sustains a character for unostentatious kindness 
which renders its utterance music to a stranger's ear. I 
mentioned my entire deficiency in instrumental astronomy, 
and of the details of an observatory ; my anxiety to pro- 
cure catalogues of books, blank forms of record and reduc- 
tion ; a knowledge of the practical use of the instruments, 
their adjustments and manipulation ; in fine, a thorough 
preparation, which might fit me to build the observatory, 
adjust the instruments, and conduct a full series of practi- 
cal observations. 

I remarked that I had a letter to Mr. Airy from the 
ex-President, Mr. Adams. 

" That is well ! that is well ! " said my friend. " Let 
me see. Yes. Inclose your letter in a note to Mr. Main ; 
state distinctly your object in visiting this country, and 
especially the Royal Observatory, and say that you will be 
at Greenwich at twelve to-morrow. He '11 get it in the 
morning, and I will be sure to be there to receive you. 
Mr. Simms, give Mr. Mitchel some paper, and put a stamp 
upon it. He had better write at once. Well, sir, I bid 
you good day. We meet, I hope, to-morrow at twelve." 

I sat down and followed the advice which had been dic- 
tated by so much generous good feeling, sealed my note, 
and placed upon it the head of Queen Victoria, which was 
equivalent to marking " post-paid," 1 and left it to the care 
of my excellent acquaintance, Mr. Simms. 

The prospect was brightening, and already at the close 
of twenty-four hours I felt myself at home in the heart of 
London. 

The long standing of Mr. Simms as a manufacturer of 
astronomical instruments, as well as in science, had brought 
him into intimate connection with nearly all the distin- 
guished astronomers of Europe. I had thus the opportu- 
nity, through his polite communications, of forming an ap- 
proximate acquaintance with Airy and Herschel, with Sir 
James South, Struve, Schumacher, Gauss, Lamont, and 
others, with whom I anticipated the possibility of a per- 
1 Before stamps were used in America. 



LONDON. 



97 



sonal meeting. I was, moreover, introduced to the manu- 
facturers of London, as well as to those of Paris, and we 
scanned the chances of finding already finished an object- 
glass of the size necessary for the large telescope ordered 
by the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. I soon learned 
the utter impossibility of finding one in London. The 
largest glass in the shop of Trough ton & Simms was but 
seven inches in diameter, and that desired for the Cincin- 
nati Observatory must be at least twelve inches, or in the 
ratio of nearly eight to one in power. Hence, in London, 
no glass could be found which was of more than one 
eighth the power of the one in search of which I had 
commenced and thus far prosecuted my journey. The cele- 
brated Dollond, whose shop I visited on leaving Troughton 
& Simms, gave me to understand that it would require full 
five years to construct such an instrument as had been 
ordered, and further added that he would not contract to 
finish one in any definite time. 

I had placed but little reliance on finding an object-glass 
in London, ready made ; but the amount of time necessary 
to make and mount a twelve-inch glass I must confess 
rather startled me, more especially as it was affirmed that 
the strong probability was, that, go where I might, from 
three to five years must be consumed in making and mount- 
ing. This prospect was not particularly cheering, but as 
the whole world was yet before me, I was not disposed to 
yield the hope that going farther I should fare better. 



XIV. 



GEEENWICH AND WINDSOR. 

The next morning I found myself on the deck of one 
of those Greenwich boats (which leave each half hour dur- 
ing the day), on my way to keep my appointment at the 
Royal Observatory. A narrow channel in the river is 
kept clear of the shipping which lies upon either hand, by 
the strong arm of the law, and by a watchfulness and care 
truly commendable. I suppose not more than a few thou- 
sand collisions take place during each twenty-four hours. 

Every craft, from the tiny skiff up to the line-of-battle 
ship, jostling, and thumping, and crushing each other for 
very straitness, and then the thousand lighters in the chan- 
nel, kept in a constant flutter by the snorting steamers, 
which are perpetually dashing in upon them, the cries of 
the watermen, the shouts of the steamer boys, the songs of 
the sailors, form altogether a scene of the energy of man 
nowhere else to be witnessed on the surface of the globe. 
As to managing a steamboat by an engineer's bell, the 
thing is utterly impossible : a watch stands upon the bow, 
another on the wheelhouse, while a boy is stationed just 
above the engineer. The signal is passed, and the boy 
translates at the top of his voice; and from the moment 
the Greenwich boat leaves London bridge till it reaches 
the landing opposite the hospital, a distance of six miles, 
that boy's voice, shrill and piercing, is shouting, " Stop 
her ! " " Go it easy ! " " Go on ahead ! " " Stop her ! " 

The towers and domes of the Royal Observatory, peer- 
ing above the trees that fill the beautiful park which sur- 
rounds the buildings, were now full before me. Receiving 
the necessary directions, I landed, and bent my steps to- 
wards the great central starting-point of the world's move- 



GREENWICH AND WINDSOR. 



99 



merits, — the point familiar to every schoolboy that ever 
looked upon a map, or pored over the mysteries of longi- 
tude and latitude. Passing the hospital on my left, within 
whose precincts were gathered groups of the old mutilated 
veterans, the remains of what had once fought England's 
battles, in their cocked hats and uniforms, I soon found 
myself at the iron gate by which one enters the Green- 
wich Park. This gate was in keeping with a substantial 
iron rail fence which surrounds the grounds attached to the 
observatory. 

The summit of the hill, which rises, perhaps, one hundred 
and fifty feet above the level of the Thames, is crowned 
by an irregular pile of buildings, and surrounded by a heavy 
stone wall, or sort of battlement. The appearance is suffi- 
ciently imposing to strike the eye of the beholder, but the 
associations made a far deeper impression on my mind. 

Making my way over the beautiful lawn which spreads 
out its ample and grass-clad surface from the base of the 
hill, amid groups of children and youths at their gambols, 
and here and there an old veteran asleep under the shade 
of a sturdy oak, while a herd of gentle deer were nibbling 
the grass around and near him, I came to the base of 
the hill, and in a few moments rang for the first time the 
porter's bell at the Royal Observatory. 

Having been shown to the sitting-room, Mr. Main, the 
first and confidential assistant of Mr. Airy, soon entered 
and gave me a hearty welcome to the observatory. He 
had received my note, and still more had heard much of 
me and of my plans and wishes from my counsellor of the 
preceding day, who almost immediately made his appear- 
ance. 

"Ah, sir, you are in time! — Well, Main," said Mr. 
Sheepshanks, addressing his friend familiarly, " you are 
busy, so return to your computations, and leave Mr. Mitchel 
to my keeping. — Come, sir," he added, in turning to me ; 
" Mr. Main will join us when he gets through ; in the mean 
time I know what you want, and we '11 take a look through 
the observatory." 

We passed the day in examining one instrument after 



100 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



another, and in noting the various mechanical contrivances 
by which they are rendered effective in their operations. 
From the foundation of the pier, on which the instrument 
stands, isolated from every part of the building in which it 
is inclosed up to the openings or slits in the walls and roof 
or dome through which the stars are examined, everything 
was closely inspected, and the relative merits of each con- 
trivance fully discussed. 

In the afternoon we were joined by the principal assist- 
ant, Mr. Main, a young man whose position is sufficient 
evidence of his exceeding promise as an astronomer. I 
left the observatory in company with Mr. Sheepshanks, 
having received first the full freedom of the place, and an 
especial invitation to return after nightfall, and witness the 
practical operations of the observers. 

In the evening I returned to Greenwich, and had the 
pleasure of taking my first lessons in instrumental astron- 
omy from my friend, Mr. Sheepshanks, in the Royal Ob- 
servatory. The details of these matters cannot be made 
interesting to the general reader : suffice it to say that I 
found observers busily employed at each of the different 
instruments, noting the silent movements of the celestial 
Host. Here the astronomer keeps his nightly vigil ; here 
it was, on this very spot, that the immortal Bradley wrested 
by observation the wonderful secret of the aberration of 
light, thus furnishing an incontestable evidence, and per- 
haps the only positive one, of the earth's motion round the 
sun. Here have been made and recorded the observations, 
from Flamstead down to Airy, which have furnished the 
data for the discovery of the sublime laws of the universe, 
and for a full exposition of the operation of these laws in 
their most ramified and extended influence. In short, no 
observatory has done nearly so much for the world as this, 
the details of whose interior I was now inspecting. All 
these details I was yet to learn, and even now I dared to 
entertain the hope that the same admirable system might 
be one day in full operation on the banks of the Ohio. 

I lingered about this fascinating place, deeply interested, 
until the last opportunity of returning to London was 



GREENWICH AND WINDSOR. 



101 



about to escape me. Mounting upon the box with the 
driver of the omnibus, at twelve o'cloc-k at night, I started 
for my quarters distant about ten miles. 

I spent most of the following day at the observatory in 
examining the modes of recording and reducing observa- 
tions, and was presented with a full set of blank forms. 
These forms for recording and reducing observations had 
been drawn up as the result of nearly two centuries' ex- 
perience. There are three distinct departments of astron- 
omy, or three great steps in passing from the object in 
the heavens to its scientific history. First, a large num- 
ber of observations, by skilful and careful observers, and 
with perfect instruments. Second, the reduction of these 
observations, or clearing them of instrumental and other 
errors, so as to give the absolute places of the stars and 
not the apparent places, correcting for refraction, parallax, 
etc., and finally reducing the star to its place at the begin- 
ning of the current year. This is far more laborious than 
the preceding. And thirdly, from these reduced observa- 
tions, by the powers of analytic machinery and profound 
reasoning the entire astronomic history of the body is 
determined, both past, present, and future. 

Now it happened that Slough, the recent residence of Sir 
John Herschel, and indeed the place in which his illus- 
trious father made his great discoveries with his enormous 
forty-feet reflecting telescope, was and is within a mile or 
two of Windsor, and immediately upon the road. I deter- 
mined to spend part of the day at Windsor, and attend 
service in the Queen's chapel, not indeed with any hope of 
being specially edified, but I was anxious to hear a royal 
discourse, in the royal presence, in the royal chapel, in the 
royal castle of Windsor. I confess frankly I did not forget 
the great reflector. 

The day was beautiful, and thousands were on the wing, 
resolved to seek a purer air than that which comes reeking 
from the impurities of a mighty city. A few minutes on 
the train brought us to Slough, and having my plans formed 
I sprang from the cars, and mounted on the outside with 



ORMSBY MACKXIGHT MITCHEL. 



the driver of an omnibus ready to start to Windsor. The 
house and grounds of Sir William Herschel are on the 
road from the station to Windsor, and this identical rail- 
way has positively driven Sir John from the old family 
mansion, because of the facility afforded to strangers to 
interrupt, by well-meant but troublesome calls, the impor- 
tant investigations in which he is constantly engaged. So 
he has fled to the interior, where there is no railway. 
Taciturn as was the driver, by skill and ingenuity I suc- 
ceeded in drawing him out sufficiently, at least, to have him 
point out the wonderful objects by the wav. A short dis- 
tance from the railway station we approached a small 
cottage with its trees, shrubbery, and garden looking in 
rather a neglected condition. 44 There," said the coachman, 
pointing in the direction of the cottage, — " there was the 
residence of Sir John Herschel. and in the back garden you 
may see the ruins of his father's great telescope." 

Here was a cottage in all respects less interesting than 
hundreds I had seen before, and there was lying upon the 
ground an immense iron cylinder, looking for all the world 
like a great steamboat-chimney, of which I had seen hun- 
dreds without one particle of interest or emotion : yet here 
was an enchanted spot, and there lay the wizard's mighty 
tube, which by its magic power had transported its master 
millions and millions of miles through the thronged regions 
of space, thick strewn with myriads of suns and systems. 
On this stupendous journey he had passed the outskirts of 
our planetary system ; he had discovered a new world, with 
six revolving moons, slowly and majestically wheeling 
round our central sun. Leaving the boundaries of our 
system, he had continued his onward flight until moon and 
planet and the sun itself had faded and been lost in the 
distance, and yet his journey was but begun. New suns, 
new systems, new planets, with their attendant moons, came 
on to meet him from out the heart of primeval space. 
These again were passed and lost in the increasing distarce. 
until finally he stood upon the borders of the illimitable 
starry cluster, of which our sun forms one of the unnum- 
bered millions. 



GREENWICH AND WINDSOR. 103 



Here he might well pause. If the distance from one sun 
to its nearest cognate in the same system is absolutely im- 
measurable, what must be the gulf of trackless space which 
severs one of these mighty starry clusters from another ! 
Surely mortal vision may never dare to essay the passage 
of this unfathomable gulf. But like some potent and re- 
sistless conjurer, Herschel summoned to his aid a 44 higher 
power " and plunged across this wide abyss, and stood upon 
the confines of unsuspected regions : and on he went, un- 
til the myriads and myriads of flaming orbs which form our 
starry cluster, stretching in endless continuity throughout 
all space, contracted, and shrunk, and faded, till the whole 
vast and unbounded assemblage of suns seemed but a film 
of light upon the deep of starless heavens. Strange being, 
man! more than half immortal while here on earth. By 
the powers of an analysis created from his own mind, he 
rolls back the tide of time, and reveals the secrets hidden 
and concealed by countless years, or, still more wonderful, 
he predicts with prophetic accuracy the future history of 
the rolling spheres. Linked to earth by indissoluble bonds, 
by his own creations he brings the heavens down, and 
bares its wonders to his scrutinizing gaze. Space withers 
at his touch, time past and future becomes one mighty now, 
and not content "with the infinitely great, with planets and 
suns and adamantine spheres, rolling unshaken through the 
void immense," he turns his penetrating glance downward, 
and myriads of living monsters start into being on every 
tiny leaflet, in every drop that sparkles in the sun. 

But yonder in the distance rise the grim battlements of 
the far-famed castle. 

Upon arrival — having deposited my useless luggage 
with a servant at the hotel below — I made my way to the 
castle. The royal pair had already passed into the chapel, 
and thither the crowd was tending. I reached the door of 
the chapel. The rich sunlight streaming in through the 
old stained glass with every tint and hue added greatly to 
the beauty of the scene. Having reached the centre of 
the building, my eye ranged curiously round the titled fair 
ones who occupied the few elevated seats in the chapel, 



104 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



and I hoped that among them I might recognize the Queen. 
There was beauty enough, and grace enough, and diamonds 
enough, to have furnished a half dozen queens for a half 
dozen of the most powerful nations on earth. 

Upon one side of the chapel there may be seen some- 
thing resembling a private box in a theatre. There are 
glass windows of elegant plate glass which open upon the 
interior of the edifice. This is the box, or pew if you 
will, of her Majesty Queen Victoria and of his Royal 
Highness Field Marshal Prince Albert. The Prince is a 
slender and rather handsome-looking young man, with a 
delicate mustache upon his upper lip, and dressed when I 
saw him in a plain military frock with a red standing col- 
lar. The Queen was less distinctly visible owing to the 
powerful reflection from both surfaces of the plate-glass 
windows. She was plainly dressed so far as I could see, 
and with features not unlike those portrayed in the thou- 
sand and one likenesses which teem in every shop-window 
not only in England, but also in America. The singing 
and chanting and reading and responding were all done 
technically accurate, and all the performers were rewarded 
next day with honorable mention in the court journal. 
The Reverend Bishop finally ascended the little pulpit, 
nearly opposite the Queen's box, and took his text from 
the beatitudes in Matthew, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
for theirs is the Kingdom of God." 



XV. 



CAMDEN HILL. 

I had read much of the private observatory of Sir James 
South, distinguished for his efforts to improve the object- 
glasses of England by the introduction of larger dimen- 
sions than had previously been employed, as also for his 
invaluable researches in company with his friend, Sir John 
Herschel, among the double stars. Another matter, of a 
less agreeable character, had given to Sir James an exten- 
sive notoriety in the astronomical world. Some ten years 
ago he became the possessor of one of the largest object- 
glasses which at that time had ever been manufactured, 
and resolved upon mounting it in the most perfect man- 
ner for the purpose of continuing his examinations of the 
nebulae and double stars. Trough ton & Simms were the 
artisans employed to execute this most important job. The 
instrument was to be mounted equatorially, with all the 
modern improvements of clockwork, etc. If I mistake not, 
several years were employed in the execution of the work, 
and after many unavoidable delays the whole was finished, 
and the instrument was pronounced ready for the observer. 

Sir James laid hold of bis favorite, and having brought 
it to the test pronounced the workmanship defective, the 
instrument unsteady and entirely unfit for use, and finally 
refused to pay for the mounting. Whereupon a lawsuit 
followed which arrayed all the astronomers within striking 
distance of London on opposite sides, the one party taking 
sides with Sir James and testifying to the imperfection of 
the mounting, while perhaps a larger party embraced the 
interests of Messrs. Troughton & Simms, and gave in evi- 
dence their opinions that these gentlemen had acquitted 
themselves according to contract. 



106 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



The rumor of these dissensions and of this celebrated 
lawsuit had reached me across the waters, and I felt a 
great anxiety on this account as well as on others to see 
the instrument which had caused such a commotion among 
the great star-gazers of England. Camden Hill, Kensing- 
ton, the seat of Sir James, is some seven or eight miles 
from London, but easily reached at any hour of the day 
by omnibuses. Having re-solved upon a visit, I called 
quite early in the forenoon upon Mr. Everett, hoping to 
get a line introducing me to Sir James, but unfortunately 
the minister was out. This was a disappointment, for time 
was precious, and the only person to whom I might now 
look for an introduction was Sir John Lubbock, who lived 
some two or three miles in a direction precisely opposite 
to Camden Hill. There was no alternative, the streets 
were finally threaded, and I rang the private bell at Sir 
John Lubbock's Bank. But alas ! the banker like the 
minister was taking an airinsr, and I was astain thrown on 
my own resources. 

To waste any more time in looking for letters was im- 
possible, so I resolved to write one myself. I had full 
opportunity during the ride to Kensington to frame any 
number of plans. To examine, discuss, and reject, how- 
ever, was about all I accomplished. Within an hour after 
leaving Charing Cross I stood at the outer door or gate 
in a high wall which inclosed the lawn and grounds 
belonging to the beautiful residence of the astronomer. I 
rang and the servant appeared. Sir James was in. I took 
out a card and wrote my letter of introduction in these 
words : — 

" 0. M. Mitchel from the United States wishes to con- 
sult Sir James South on the subject of erecting an observa- 
tory at Cincinnati, on the banks of the Ohio." 

Having conducted me to the parlor, the servant disap- 
peared with my card, and soon reappeared with the answer 
that his master would be down in a few minutes. I looked 
round the elegantly furnished parlors and out upon the 
beautiful lawn and gardens which stretched gently descend- 
ing towards the village, and thought that the life of an 



CAMDEN HILL. 



107 



astronomer was not quite so self-sacrificing as it might be. 
I had but short time for thought, for my reflections were 
interrupted speedily by the entrance of the knight to whom 
belonged this beautiful estate. Sir James, I should think, 
is over fifty, rather short and sufficiently stout to be thor- 
oughly English, with a broad face, large features, expanded 
forehead, upon whose smooth surface the fingers of care 
and mental toil have not yet left any traces. There is in 
the expression of his honest countenance an amount of 
good-humor and frank, open hospitality, which, to say the 
least, must be peculiarly charming to all who visit him as 
unceremoniously as I did. 

He advanced to meet me, and giving me a hearty shake 
of the hand, stopped me short in the apologies I had com- 
menced for thus intruding myself, a stranger, and without 
even a line to insure him against imposture. 

" Your object," said the knight, " is a sufficient letter of 
introduction, and now, sir, I know exactly what you want, 
so please follow me to the observatory." The day was 
spent in examining and discussing the various plans for an 
observatory and the different modes of mounting the in- 
struments. One apartment was examined after another, 
until finally we reached a large room surmounted by a 
dome of great size and of an expensive construction, while 
fragments of the framework for mounting a great equato- 
rial were scattered round. 

" Here, sir," exclaimed Sir James, "you behold the 
wreck of all my hopes. Here I have expended thousands, 
and flattered myself that I was soon to possess the finest 
instrument in Europe ; but it is all over, and there 's au 
end." 

I remarked that the object-glass was still in his posses- 
sion and might yet be mounted so as to realize his hopes 
and expectations. 

" No," said Sir James. " Struve has reaped the golden 
harvest among the double stars, and there is little now for 
me to hope or expect." 

It would be difficult to appreciate the feelings which at 
that moment were sweeping through the mind of the 



108 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



astronomer. Long-cherished visions of fame and high 
distinction, nay, perhaps of grand discoveries in the 
heavens, which for years had played round his hopes of 
the future, had fled forever. Another " had reaped the 
golden harvest," and like Clairaut, who wept that there 
was not for him as for Newton, the problem of the uni- 
verse to solve, Sir James could almost weep to think that 
another's eye had been permitted to sweep over the far 
distant realms of space which he had long hoped might 
remain his own peculiar province. 

Having spent most of the day in examining and noting 
matters of importance, I returned to London, after receiving 
a pressing invitation to spend the night in the observatory 
should the evening betoken a cloudless sky. This invi- 
tation I did not fail to accept, for thus far I had been 
obliged to curb entirely my eager curiosity to examine the 
wonders which the fine instruments I had only looked 
upon, but not through, might reveal to the eye. True, I 
had spent a deeply interesting evening at Greenwich, but 
it was the scientific use of the instruments to which my 
attention had been exclusively devoted. I had learned 
how to take a transit, to measure a polar distance, and to 
determine the ratio of the polar and equatorial diameters 
of a planet, but as yet no high magnifying power had been 
employed, and the magnificence of the telescopic views of 
the heavens existed still as a matter of faith and not of 
sight. Now it should be remembered that I had dared to 
represent mechanically, by an apparatus of my own con- 
struction, these sublime views in the heavens, and one may 
well imagine how great was my anxiety to verify the 
accuracy of my own representations. 

Jupiter and Saturn would be on the meridian about nine 
o'clock, while the moon in her third quarter would rise late 
enough to give us full time to examine all the more deli- 
cate nebulae and double stars that might chance to be 
above the horizon. 

As the evening drew on I watched the clouds with no 
small interest. When they finally rolled themselves up like 
a vast curtain from the west, leaving a clear and transpar- 



CAMDEN HILL, 



109 



ent atmosphere and a sparkling hemisphere radiant with 
gems of beauty above, I chartered a cab for the night, 
and made my way to Camden Hill. I found Sir James in 
the observatory. 

" Come," said he, " I wish you to try your hand at 
observing a transit." 

I remarked that I had never performed the operation, 
and had never seen it performed until the evening before 
at the Royal Observatory. 

"Never mind, never mind, sir; a beginning must be 
made, so down with you upon the observing chair, and I'll 
count for you." 

I took my place as directed, but must confess frankly 
that it was a greater effort to command an entire presence 
of mind in the position I then occupied than in any post 
of danger I had ever filled, though these had been, in not 
a few instances, sufficiently perilous to shake the stoutest. 
Sir James took up the count from the face of the clock, 
the star entered the field of the telescope, and it was my 
business to indicate the exact instant at which it passed 
each of the seven wires which were within the telescope, 
equidistant, vertical, and parallel to each other. 

The star, by the diurnal motion of the earth, approached 
the first wire. It seldom occurs that it is bisected by any 
wire at the instant the clock indicates a whole second. 
You count 21, 22, 23, and, say, between (he counting of 
23 and 24 the star passes a wire : The accuracy of the 
observation consists in estimating correctly how many 
tenths of a second are to be added to 23 whole seconds, to 
give the exact instant of passage. This is done by con- 
ceiving the space through which the star appears to move 
in one second, divided into ten equal parts, and judging 
how many of these equal parts are upon one side and how 
many on the other side of the wire, in that interval of 
space passed over by the star between the two seconds at 
which the transit occurs. I had only to give to Sir James 
the tenths in addition to the whole second which he was 
counting. The star crossed between 23 and 24, and I 
called out 23 and 3 tenths, which Sir James recorded, still 



110 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



continuing the count. The second wire was passed be- 
tween 31 and 32. I called out 31 and 7 tenths ; and so of 
all the wires. The seven wires having been passed, by 
adding up the seven observed times of transit and dividing 
the sum by seven, the quotient should be exactly equal to 
the observed time of passing the middle wire. By the 
veriest good luck in the world, the test having been ap- 
plied to my observation, the coincidence between the mean 
of the wires and the time of passing the middle wire was 
remarkably near, so near, indeed, that I did not dare to 
repeat the experiment for that night. I had taken my 
first practical lesson, and had gained the applause of a 
master who, perhaps, in this department knows no supe- 
rior. Let those who look upon success under the same 
circumstances as an easy matter make the effort, and if 
I mistake not they will find more stars dancing before 
their eyes than there were '■ lights in the temple of Solo- 
mon." 

From the Transit Room we passed into the Equatorial 
Room. Sir James stepped up to the instrument, and 
giving to it a position by means of the circles, directed me 
to place my eye to the telescope. I did so, and beheld 
two beautiful stars, the one yellow, the other blue. 

These two stars to the naked eye appear as a single 
one, while under the magnifying power there used, they 
were widely separated, — at least six or seven diameters 
of the stars. Here was the first double star I had ever 
seen : two suns physically associated, bound together by 
the same mysterious power which fastens the planets to 
the sun, each star doubtless surrounded by its scheme of 
revolving worlds, and each with its retinue of worlds re- 
volving round the other, or both round their common 
centre of gravity. It was the double-star Iota in the 
constellation Cancer. The instrument was again fixed in 
position, by its circles, and again I was directed to examine 
and see what was visible. 

Two small stars, of nearly the same size and color, were 
near the centre of the field. "There," said Sir James, 
"you see the most rapidly moving bodies of which we 



CAMDEN HILL. 



Ill 



have any knowledge. There are two suns revolving round 
each other in a less period than Saturn revolves around the 
sun. So short is the period that observations of two weeks 
were sufficient to determine it." 

I had lectured on these very stars, and had presented 
them as evidences of the extraordinary and restless activity 
which pervades these remote regions of space, — for they 
were not probably nearer than one hundred and forty 
millions of millions of miles, — but little did I suppose that 
I should ever behold these wonderful bodies, and much 
less to have them pointed out to me by the very individual 
who had discovered their motion and determined their 
periods. 

The planets Jupiter and Saturn were approaching the 
meridian, and we went to the yard, where, in the open air, 
on a temporary wooden frame, was mounted a large tele- 
scope, and here for the first time I had the opportunity of 
seeing, without a shadow of doubt, that wonderful sight, 
the separation in the rings of Saturn. With a small tele- 
scope I had watched this beautiful planet night after night 
at home. But how different now the appearance ! A jet- 
black line, running nearly round upon the surface of the 
immense rings, clearly indicated the division which exists 
between these most extraordinary appendages, and there, 
too, were the satellites or moons which I had never seen 
before. This planet I had pictured from a drawing taken 
by Sir John Herschel, and the object now before me in 
the field of the telescope was scarcely so perfect as the 
picture I had made and exhibited before I had ever seen 
the original. I mean by this that the picture presented 
the appearance of the planet under the most favorable con- 
dition of the atmosphere, for it should be remembered that 
every undulation in the air is magnified in proportion to 
the power employed in the telescope. The views which I 
had of Jnpiter and the moon also verified my pictures of 
these beautiful objects. 

Sir James now directed the telescope to a part of the 
heavens in which, to the naked eye, there appeared no 
object of interest. 



112 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



" There, sir, look and tell me what you see," said my 
most excellent guide. 

I placed my eye to the telescope, and in the centre of 
the field a most delicate and beautiful object presented 
itself. I instantly recognized it, and called out " The annu- 
lar nebula in the constellation Lyra ! " The form was that 
of a hoop a little flattened ; the light was soft and delicate, 
a mere haze of brightness, and yet there is reason to be- 
lieve that every particle of this light emanates from the 
vast system composed of myriads of suns, and so distant 
that the light, travelling with a velocity of twelve millions 
of miles per minute, had been on its journey more than 
fifty millions of years! 

What a thought! — a physical union between myself and 
objects lying on the very verge of penetrated space! Hav- 
ing lingered upon this magic spot till the stars with which 
I had been holding converse, as well as my cabman, re- 
minded me that we had long since passed the " noon of 
night," I bethought myself that this was not nearly so 
interesting to my host as to myself. I apologized for my 
imposition upon his patience, and would have taken my 
leave at the moment, but that just then coffee and other 
refreshments were brought into the observatory. 

Another ring at the outer bell hastened my movements 
for fear of being obliged to walk to London, a thing I had 
no disposition to do at such an hour of the night. 

I took leave of Sir James not without some regrets at 
having incurred a debt that was likely to remain uncan- 
celled forever. Should these lines ever meet the eye of 
the astronomer, 1 when he learns that the attentions be- 
stowed upon the self- introduced stranger gave to that 
stranger an influence which has assisted him in the accom- 
plishment of a most difficult enterprise in behalf of his 
favorite science, he may possibly transfer the charge now 
standing against me personally to the heavy debtor column 
already entered in his books against science. 

1 An expectation never fulfilled. The MS. was destined to ac- 
cumulate dust for forty years, and Sir James South, if alive, would 
now be a hundred years old. 



CAMDEN HILL. 



113 



The hum of the millions had gradually died away upon 
the ear of night, the lamps were beginning to burn dimly 
in the deserted streets, when T reached the metropolis. In 
passing St. Giles an occasional burst of coarse and savage 
glee told that the tenants of this dreary region had not yet 
finished their last wassail in their gloomy abodes. 



XVI. 



ARAGO. 

I was now ready to resume my scientific pilgrimage. 
The island of Great Britain did not contain the object of 
my search. The workshops of the Continent were yet 
before me, and to these I was now ready to repair. 

From the catalogues of Cauchoix, Gambay, Lehrebours, 
and others I had many hopes of success in the great centre 
of art and science, the city of Paris. The railway from 
London to Southampton renders this a desirable route 
to those who are anxious to travel with dispatch. We 
reached this seaboard town in some three or four hours 
from London, and drove immediately to the Havre steamer. 
Our little vessel was sufficiently filled with passengers, from 
all nations and tongues and peoples, to keep one imperfectly 
acquainted with several languages in fine practice for the 
coming practical operations of the Continent. We left 
Southampton in the evening and coasted the beautiful Isle 
of Wight at a time when the powerful contrast between 
the hilltops glowing in the rays of the setting sun, and the 
deep shadow of the valleys, added greatly to the picturesque 
sweetness of its scenery. The evening was fair, and the 
sea smooth, and the stars shone out with a clear lustre, 
which would have unnerved an astronomer separated from 
his tubes and his glasses. 

The evening was spent on deck in company with a 
young Irishman and his sister, who were journeying from 
the land of potatoes to the land of frogs as a matter of 
pastime and pleasure. The acquaintance was formed after 
the Western fashion, without the ceremony of an introduc- 
tion. There is a charm in an educated Irish lady, not 
found elsewhere perhaps on the globe. All the honest, full- 



ARAGO. 



115 



hearted, noble confidence of her countrymen is mellowed 
and softened in the fairer sex, retaining all that is winning 
and losing all that is abrupt or repulsive. And then the 
brogue, just slightly upon the tip of the tongue, bending 
each word into a sort of curve of beauty, makes their lan- 
guage music to the ear. 

Seasickness, the dread and horror of all who are for 
the first time upon the ocean, seemed to have conjured up 
some of its most direful pictures before the minds of my 
new acquaintances. The brother knew he would be sick, 
was determined to be sick, and was sick accordingly, though 
to me it seemed as though one might have as well grown 
sick while paddling a sugar-trough on a mill-pond. The 
lady, being left somewhat in my charge, I was in duty 
bound so to engage her attention as to banish the thoughts 
of the dreaded attack. Long years had rolled by since I 
had played at that game, but it is strange how naturally 
one falls into old habits. Perhaps the power of early 
habit was aided in this case by the fact that I had now 
travelled nearly four thousand miles and had not as yet 
spent twenty minutes in the company of a lady. Be that 
as it may, one thing I am sure of: the Irish beauty thanked 
me at the end of the journey for having guarded and pre- 
served her from the horrors of seasickness. 

When I reached the custom-house I found my luggage 
had been already examined, my keys having been left for 
that purpose. All was sent to the diligence, and I made 
my way to a hotel, where I took a hasty breakfast. 

I entered the coupe of the diligence, or that apartment 
next the horses, with seats for three persons, and with 
windows in the front and upon each side. The driver is 
perched upon the roof of the apartment, and yet behind 
and above him is the imperial. One of the places of the 
coupe was occupied by a swarthy son of the South, a 
Spaniard from the West Indies, while his travelling cloak, 
hat-box, etc., occupied a second, leaving the third for my 
tenancy. When one is in France, the hypothesis seems to 
be that everyone met is a Frenchman, and hence strangers 
almost invariably address each other in French. Should 



116 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



the same persons meet as strangers in Germany, they 
would commence their conversation in German. So the 
Spaniard and the American, out of compliment, I suppose, 
to the country, saluted each other in French. 

A seat in the coupe gives to the traveller an excellent 
opportunity of inspecting the country, as the view is fairly 
open in front and upon either hand. The road leading 
from Havre de Grace by way of Rouen to Paris is broad, 
smooth, well graded, and macadamized. The first pecu- 
liarity on the road which strikes the stranger is the 
total absence of any and everything in the shape of an 
enclosure. The country is in a high state of cultivation, 
and doubtless tilled by differeut farmers, and yet imaginary 
lines of division separate the lands of one from those of 
another. The fields looked well, but constantly reminded 
me of a picture without a frame. We travelled with great 
rapidity, and under a full head of whip-power. The pos- 
tilion beat his horses, and every blue-shirted teamster who 
met us on the road amused himself and assisted the driver 
by giviug each horse a blow as he passed. The thought 
occurred to me that it was well these were French horses, 
and accustomed to a monarchical form of government; for 
an American team, with a tithe of the oppression, would 
have run away with the concern, and would have dashed 
everything to atoms. The harness, the horses, and the 
carriage are admirably matched, each rough, coarse, heavy, 
and unwieldy. The dashing taste displayed in an English 
team, in their trappings, and in the lightness and beauty of 
the coach, are unknown in France. And yet we travelled 
rapidly, making about nine miles an hour, including the 
changes, which were effected in the least possible time. No 
one can complain of roads, or delay, or of being crowded, 
or of danger in an upset, though the conveyance is loaded 
with all the luggage on the deck. 

We travelled all night, and at about seven o'clock on 
the following morning came in sight of the suburbs of 
Paris. As we entered by the old road of Neuilly, we 
caught a distant glimpse of the magnificent Arc de Tri- 
omphe de 1'Etoile. The structure is a worthy entrance to 



AU AGO. 



117 



the superb avenue which penetrates from it through the 
Champs Elysees, La Place de la Concorde, and the garden 
of the Tuilleries, to the Palace itself. We brought up in 
the courtyard of the post-office, and after no small diffi- 
culty, I succeeded in extricating myself from the focus of 
confusion, and sought peace and quiet at Meurice's Hotel, 
opposite the garden of the Tuilleries. 

Having visited the bureau, entered my name, examined 
the list of those in the hotel, surrendered my passport, etc., 
etc., I repaired to the coffee-room, and found that a ride 
during the night had by no means destroyed my appetite. 

Having breakfasted, I started at once on my tour among 
the opticians of Paris. On crossing the Pont Royal, my 
eye was attracted by the curious signs, with their singular 
names and queer language, which decorated the exterior of 
the long range of shops fronting the river. My eye at 
length rested on one which had faded under the power of 
time and storm until the letters had become dim and 
indistinct. After some difficulty I read " M. Cauchoix, 
Opticien" 

While a student at the Military Academy at West Point, 
I had studied the scientific works of Biot, one of France's 
most distinguished scholars. In his philosophical works 
frequent reference is made to his contemporaries, and espe- 
cially in his "Optics" he makes frequent mention of those 
with whom he was associated in conducting his experiments 
in light. Cauchoix, a celebrated optician of Paris, appears 
to have been one of Biot's intimate associates, and the 
expression " M. Cauchoix and myself" occurs so fre- 
quently in Biot's " Optics," that it became a byword among 
the class of which I was a member; and in relating any 
matter in which we were assisted by any of our companions, 
it was always " M. Cauchoix and myself" who did so and 
so. Some fifteen years had rolled by since the name of 
M. Cauchoix had passed my lips or occupied my thoughts. 
Here was undoubtedly my old friend, and I determined to 
pay him my personal respects at once. I needed no intro- 
duction, for my business gave me free access to every 
optician I might choose to visit. I mounted a flight of 



118 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



stairs to the second floor, and in a few minutes " M. 
Caucboix and myself " were in earnest conversation as to 
the possibility of procuring a large object-glass in Paris. 
I thought then of my boyhood, of my old class-mates, and 
however interesting M. Cauchoix might have proved in- 
dependent of early associations, I am confident he stood 
before me in the light of an old friend, and it seemed that 
I was again at home even in Paris. 

Thus commenced a series of calls upon the opticians of 
Paris. - Within two hours after my arrival I was in the 
optical institute of M. Gambay. Here I found a vast 
variety of work in progress, — optical instruments of al- 
most every description, from a pair of spectacles up to a 
nine-feet transit. I was in search of none of these, and 
when I inquired for twelve-inch object-glasses, the optician 
stared at me with astonishment. 

" We do not keep such large glasses, and I fear you will 
hardly find one in Paris," was the reply. 

From Monsieur Gambay I went to Monsieur Combe, 
and from Monsieur Combe to Monsieur Cauchoix, and 
from Monsieur Cauchoix to Monsieur Lehrebours, and 
thus on from Monsieur one optician to Monsieur another, 
until I had pretty fairly traversed the various arroudisse- 
ments of the great city, and in the whole of Paris I found 
nothing which could be converted into an equatorial such 
as the society I represented desired within less than three 
or four years. 

After dinner I paid my respects to his Excellency 
General Cass, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to the Court of St. Cloud. The general gave 
me a letter to M. Arago, the director of the Royal 
Observatory. 

At eight o'clock on the following morning I was seated 
in the anteroom of the Royal Observatory. M. Arago 1 

1 Francois Dominique Arago was born in 1786 at Esragil (Oriental 
Pyrenees). After being graduated at the Polytechnic School in 
Paris he was attached to the Bureau of Longitudes, and in 1806, with 
M. Biot, measured an arc of the meridian on the earth. Not long 
afterwards he became director of the Observatory. This position he 



ARAGO. 



119 



was engaged with another visitor, and I was left to my 
reflections for some fifteen or twenty minutes. I amused 
myself among other matters with drawing in imagination 
portraits of what I presumed the great savant ought to be. 
I knew that for thirty years or more he had been at the 
head of science in Europe. I argued that to attain so dis- 
tinguished a position thirty years ago he must have been 
then at least forty years old : hence, his age could not 
well be short of seventy years. As to his appearance, of 
course he must be deeply wrinkled, pale and cadaverous, 
thin and shrivelled, — the legitimate effects of severe and 
long continued scientific study. As to his disposition, this 
ought to be morose, crabbed, and impatient, and easily put 
out of humor by any interruption. Such was the portrait 
which I drew of the great man I had never seen. 

I was interrupted in my reverie by the porter, who con- 
ducted me to the door of the philosopher's room, threw it 
open, and I stood in the presence of a tall, commanding 
figure with a noble countenance, long, jet-black hair, and 
one of the most frank, amiable expressions I had ever seen. 
He knew me to be the person who bore a letter for him, 
and gave me a most cordial and hearty welcome. This 
was M. Arago. How wonderful the contrast between my 
imaginary pictures and the person himself ! His age is 
about fifty-six. while he looks to be about forty-five, and 
he is decidedly the finest -looking gentleman I saw in 
France. Wild as I was from the backwoods of America, 
the presence of so distinguished an individual might have 
been sufficient to have produced no small amount of agita- 
tion ; but when we come to superadd to this cause the fact 
that I was addressing him in a foreign language, it is 
scarcely to be expected that my blood coursed through its 
channels with its accustomed moderation. The room was 
that of a philosopher. Books, pamphlets, manuscripts, 
papers, were lying in the greatest confusion to my eye, 
perhaps in the most perfect order to M. Arago's, all round 

held till his death in 1853. In 1886, the centennial of his birth was 
celebrated at Paris with great ceremony. 



120 OEMS BY MACKN1GHT MITCH EL. 



the room. As if to reassure me and cause me to feel that 
the nation of which I was the unworthy representative 
in this court of science already held no mean place in the 
affections of this scientific monarch, in glancing round the 
room my eye rested upon a copy of Bowditch's translation 
of Laplace's " Mecanique Celeste." Translation, as it is, 
of the most profound work ever written, the notes and 
addenda by our countryman are well worth the text, and 
the author, had he selected a translator for his own fame, 
would have perhaps preferred one less erudite. 

After conversing for some time with M. Arago in 
French, having unfolded to him the nature of my mission 
to Europe, and the object I desired to accomplish, when 
we came to speak of the characteristics of the various in- 
struments which I designed to procure, of their adjust- 
ments, etc., I observed to the philosopher that he must 
observe my deficiency in the use of the French, and 
begged that he might change to the English language. 

" Pardonnez moi ! pardonnez moi ! " he exclaimed, " I 
cannot speak English with you, sir. Your French is so 
much better than my English that I should be ashamed to 
attempt a single sentence in your presence." 

Having consumed some thirty minutes in conversation, 
the astronomer offered to conduct me through the observa- 
tory. I knew his engagements and begged him to turn 
me over to one of his assistants, which he politely declined, 
and went with me in person to every apartment. 

The Royal Observatory of Paris is fitted up on a scale 
of magnificence, so far as buildings are concerned, far sur- 
passing anything I saw in Europe. The instruments, 
however, are not so fine as those I found in several other 
places. We stopped for a moment in the great lecture- 
room in which M. Arago is accustomed to charm the 
multitude which throngs to hear him from every quarter of 
Paris. 

The illustrations employed in astronomy are paintings 
on boards, being mere diagrams or imperfect pictures of 
objects in the heavens. I thought of my own apparatus 
for a like object, and said to my conductor that I had 



ARAGO. 



121 



dared to deliver popular lectures on the banks of the Ohio, 
and that I owed my success, I presumed, to the beauty of 
my mechanical illustrations. He inquired quickly what 
plan I had adopted, and on explaining my method he 
passed a compliment upon the accuracy, simplicity, and 
beauty of the system. 

We returned to his study, and I remarked to him that 
I had searched Paris in vain for an object-glass of large 
size, which could be mounted within any reasonable time. 
I knew from the character of my countrymen, that to 
announce that four or five years were necessary to furnish 
an instrument was equivalent to an abandonment of the 
whole enterprise. That under these circumstances I had 
almost resolved to penetrate as far as Munich, perhaps to 
Vienna, and return, if necessary, by way of Hamburg. 
M. Arago told me that my journey would be a long, 
tedious, and fatiguing one, and what could not be found 
in Paris could not be found elsewhere ; and that I must 
make up my mind to wait patiently for several years after 
the order should be given, unless I might accidentally 
find an instrument such as I wanted in the hands of some 
person who might wish to abandon its use. 

Having consumed as much of the seer's time as I 
conceived might be excused on any fair and reasonable 
grounds, I took my leave, not without first receiving a 
polite invitation to return to the observatory and there 
prosecute the study of instrumental astronomy as long as 
I might desire. 

I returned to my hotel in great doubt and perplexity. 
The positive tone in which M. Arago had expressed his 
opinion on the subject of any better success elsewhere 
than in Paris, coupled with the thought that in case I 
should utterly fail I might be censured at home for mak- 
ing so long a journey in opposition to the advice of so 
distinguished a man, produced for a moment a state of 
indecision harassing in the extreme. My resolution was 
soon taken. To stop where I was would be equivalent to 
an abandonment of the enterprise; to go forward could 
result in nothing worse. So onward I determined to go. 



122 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Having made up my mind, I was ready to listen to the 
advice and opinions of my friends, who after due delibera- 
tion unanimously gave a decision in accordance with the 
one I had arrived at, and I made my preparations to leave 
Paris. 



XVII. 



THE GOAL. 

When I entered the coupe of the diligence, on renewing 
my journey, one seat was already occupied by a very good- 
looking gentleman, of fine countenance, about middle age, 
and wearing withal upon his face the mark, if not the 
reality, of thorough good-nature and downright honesty. 
The uproar and confusion which always attends the start- 
ing of the diligence in Paris was doubtless increased on 
the day I left, because it was Sunday evening ; and it 
seemed to me that things would never come right, and my 
compagnon had kissed his hand adieu to a friend, perhaps 
the fiftieth time, when, sure enough, the condncteur gave 
the word, and crack went the postilion's whip. 

The sun was flinging its last rays upon the lofty spires 
and domes of Paris as I passed the fortifications, and we 
were soon fairly out of the city, with a journey lying be- 
fore me of which I knew nothing of the other end. My 
first stopping-place was to be Munich, which, from the best 
information I could gather, would be reached in six or 
seven days and nights of hard travel. I found my solitary 
companion to be a highly polished and educated gentleman, 
who spoke his own language to perfection, but was pro- 
foundly ignorant of any other. We soon became acquainted, 
so far as to learn that we would probably journey together 
as far as Strasburg. He had travelled the route several 
times, and proffered me the aids of his experience. 

The shades of night soon gathered round us, and at a 
reasonable time for retiring my companion took out his 
handkerchief, tied up his head, and was soon in the land of 
visions. The novelty of the scenes through which I was 
passing, the singular appearance of the country, the foreign 



124 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



air of the hamlets and villages, the stately form of some 
old cathedral, or the grotesque appearance of some antique 
chateau, absorbed my attention and kept me on the qui 
vive until far past midnight. Sleep, finally, claimed its 
own, and rolling steadily along over the smooth surface of 
a beautiful broad road, with no jerks or jolts, or driver's 
horns, to break one's slumber, I slept and dreamed of home. 

My route lay through Chalons, Strasburg, Schaffhausen, 
Lindau, and Ulm. At the post-house in Ulm I noticed 
a good-looking, middle-aged gentleman, with his travelling 
cloak on one arm and a lady on the other. They stood 
near the Eilwagen in which I had secured a place for 
Augsburg. I addressed the gentleman in German, and 
soon learned that we were to be fellow-travellers. The 
conversation continued a few minutes, when finding that 
my new acquaintance spoke the German with difficulty, it 
occurred to me that they were French. I changed my 
conversation into French, and no special notice being taken 
of the change, we continued to converse for some time in 
the latter language. Finally, the gentleman turned to his 
wife and said, "Come, my dear, I think we had as well get 
in," and this, too, in genuine old English. I could not re- 
strain a burst of laughter. The gentleman stared. " What," 
said I, " have you been talking German and French to me 
all this time for?" "Bless my soul," said he, "can you 
talk English ? " " My dear sir, I can't talk anything else." 
" Then get into the same apartment with us," said the 
Englishman, for such he proved, " and let us have a com- 
fortable talk once more in English. After so many barbar- 
ous languages it is a real pleasure to meet with one who 
speaks our own language." 

Thus was formed a pleasant acquaintance which, fortu- 
nately, continued many days. 

We crossed the Danube, a small and insignificant stream 
thus high up, and entered the kingdom of Bavaria. The 
day passed rapidly by in the company of my amiable friends, 
whose agreeable conversation and kind manners I shall 
never forget. We reached Augsburg about three o'clock 
in the afternoon ; and here we took our tea in company, 



THE GOAL. 



125 



and I had the luxury of being served with my tea at the 
hands of a lady. At five o'clock we entered the railway 
train, and between nine and ten at night reached the capi- 
tal of the kingdom of Bavaria, the Athens of Germany, 
the beautiful city of Munich. Extricating ourselves as 
rapidly as possible from the noise and confusion of a rail- 
way depot, I accompanied my English friends to the Hotel 
de Baviere, or, in German, Der Bayrische Hof. 

Since my last quiet sleep in bed I had traversed the 
kingdom of France, the grand -duchy of Baden, the re- 
public of Switzerland, the kingdom of Wirtemberg, and 
was now about to seek the luxury of absolute rest in the 
capital of the kingdom of Bavaria. The fatigue of an in- 
cessant journeying had been sustained by my anxiety to 
reach this stopping-point, and the object once attained, the 
excitement over, nature overwrought began to show symp- 
toms of rebellion and mutiny. I found my bed, for which 
I had so often sighed during the tedious nights of my jour- 
ney, anything but a downy one. Sleep came and went, fit- 
fully disturbed by unpleasant dreams, and after a restless 
night I awoke in the morning, under a high fever, head- 
ache, and on trying to rise found that it was with difficulty 
I could keep my feet. 

I sat down on my bedside, and a current of thought, 
not by any means the most cheering, swept through my 
mind. Five thousand miles from home ; in a strange coun- 
try, among foreigners of whose language even I had but 
an imperfect knowledge, with a peculiar constitution which 
could be managed with difficulty by even those who had 
studied it for years. Sick ! absolutely sick ! How the 
kindness of the far distant ones sweeps across the memory 
at such a time ! I found that to give way to reflection 
would never answer, so I rallied what little strength re- 
mained and walked down-stairs to the coffee-room. It was 
early. Few had, perhaps, yet risen, and I was a solitary 
tenant of this magnificent saloon. I called for breakfast, 
but when the diminutive quota was placed before me, my 
stomach refused to receive, and a few mouthfuls was all I 
could swallow. I again repaired to my solitary chamber, 



126 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH. EL. 



and threw myself on the bed, with a desolate feeling which 
must be felt to be comprehended, and to describe which 
the words have not yet been invented. 

Such was my situation when I was aroused by a knock 
at my door. I was as much startled as was Robinson Cru- 
soe, when he found footprints on the sands of his desolate 
island. I knew not in what language to bid my visitor to 
enter, so I rose and opened the door. My English friend, 
whose acquaintance I had formed in so amusing a manner 
at Ulm, stood before me. His wife had missed me from 
the coffee-room, and had requested him to come up and ask 
me to breakfast with them. 

Reader, did you ever experience the kindness of a gentle 
and amiable lady ? There is a softness, a tenderness, which 
thrills through the heart, producing sensations which no 
other cause can arouse. I felt a change flash through my 
system in an instant. Friends, and even kind friends, were 
near me, and the gloomy spectres which had clustered 
around me vanished, touched by the wand of hope. I went 
down to the coffee-room again, but with far different feel- 
ings. My appetite came, and with a lady at the head of the 
table, and a most amiable one too, who could refuse to eat? 
As I ate my strength returned. With my strength came 
my spirits, and with my spirits the eager desire to learn, 
as early as possible, the fate of my visit to this far distant 
city. By nine o'clock I found myself sufficiently recovered 
to venture forth. I took a fiacre, and drove to the Optical 
Institute of the celebrated Frauenhofer. My fiacre stopped, 
I alighted : I bad reached the terminus of my great search, 
and in three minutes my fate would be decided. 

I was conducted to the office of M. Mertz, the successor 
of Utzschneider, the successor of Frauenhofer. M. Mertz 
spoke little or no English, and but very little French. I 
spoke German indifferently, so we managed to commingle 
the three languages together in a most skilful and scien- 
tific manner. I told him I had travelled many thousand 
miles in search of an object-glass of superior quality and 
size; that I had examined London in vain; I had searched 
Paris with no better success ; and that, in spite of the ad- 



THE GOAL. 



127 



vice of the Parisian philosophers, I had penetrated as far 
as Munich, and here I had centred my last hope. M. 
Mertz requested me to examine his collection of finished 
glasses, and for this purpose conducted me to his cabinet. 

A more beautiful display I never beheld. "Here," said 
M. Mertz, pointing to a glass of gigantic dimensions, "here 
is one of the same size as that manufactured for the 
Emperor of Russia, and now mounted in the observatory 
at Pulfowa. Here is a size smaller, which, being equal to 
that in the Royal Observatory of Bavaria, has been fully 
tested by our astronomer, Dr. Lamont, and is reported on 
in the ' Astronomische Nachrichteu.' It is perfect. Here 
is a size still smaller, but a little larger yet than the cele- 
brated Dorpat glass, with which M. Struve has made his 
researches among the double stars ; and here are other 
smaller sizes, among all of which I hope you may not be 
disappointed." Jly journey was at an end. I had thought 
of penetrating even to the capital of Russia, but here was 
all and more than all I had ever expected or desired, and 
the transition from doubt and suspense to certainty was so 
sudden and unexpected that I could scarcely realize its 
truth. Here I saw, perfectly finished, a glass which I pre- 
sumed from two to three years would be necessary to 
complete. The glass upon which I fixed my attention was 
the one which had been already tested ; and I determined 
to pay a visit to the Observatory, form the acquaintance of 
Dr. Lamont, and inquire into its merits. After spending 
an hour or two in inspecting the various apartments of 
this far-famed establishment, I returned to the hotel, and 
about one o'clock, in company with M. Ertl, an astronom- 
ical instrument maker of high reputation, to whom I had 
delivered a letter, I started for the Observatory, some two 
miles distant. 

TVe ascended an elevation which rises, perhaps, a hun- 
dred feet above the low grounds through which the Isar 
flows. On this elevation the buildings of the observatory 
are erected, not remarkable for the elegance of the archi- 
tecture, but distinguished for the superiority of the instru- 
ments which they contain. The present director of the 



128 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



observatory, Dr. Lamout, is a native of Scotland, but so 
long a resident of Germany that his own language is be- 
coming strange to him. 

The astronomer received us with an ease and unosten- 
tatious courtesy which charmed me at the moment, and 
five minutes had not passed until I found myself as per- 
fectly at home in his presence as if we had been friends 
for years. The great men of the Old World, I mean the 
truly great, are more easily approached than any class of 
men with whom I ever had the opportunity of meeting. 
My business was soon developed, and the amiable doctor 
heartily congratulated me on the success of my efforts at 
home in behalf of his favorite science. We then visited 
the various rooms of the observatory, and finally pro- 
ceeded to a detached building, erected expressly for the 
equatorial telescope. 

When we entered the room in which this instrument is 
located it was very dark, there being, from the nature of 
the structure, but little opportunity for windows, and but 
little need for them. My conductor stepped to a small 
side closet, the door of which he opened, took by the 
handle a small wheel and axle, commenced turning, when, 
to my surprise, the entire roof, in one solid mass, slowly 
receded, and we stood in an apartment without a cover. 
There, full before me, in all the perfection of mechanical 
skill, rose from its solid rock foundation one of the most 
magnificent instruments that ever charmed the eye of an 
enthusiast. A sudden exclamation of delight, astonishment, 
and admiration burst from my lips, much to the amusement 
of my learned host. After the first ebullition of surprise 
had subsided I commenced an accurate examination of this 
splendid instrument. Having shown me fully every part 
of the mechanism, and having explained the accuracy of 
its performance, the doctor said to me, with a smile, " Come 
and spend the evening with me, and let me show you its 
powers. The evening will be fair, and the distance is 
short to the city." This invitation, of course, was accepted 
with great pleasure. I solicited permission to bring my 
English friend and his wife. 



THE GOAL. 129 

As the sun was setting, a fiacre which had been ordered 
drove up to the door of the Hotel de Baviere, and, accom- 
panied by my English friends, I returned to the Observa- 
tory. It was a most charming evening. The streets of 
the city, thronged with the gay and the beautiful, presented 
a most animated appearance. All the city was breathing 
the cool evening air which came charged with freshness 
from the distant Alps. The proud promenade of Munich, 
"The English Garden," was alive with merry groups, while 
the music which came from the thick groves told that 
preparations were making for the dance, if, indeed, it had 
not already commenced. 

We reached the observatory in the gray of the linger- 
ing twilight, and were received in the most kind and polite 
manner by the distinguished director. Fortunately for us, 
the moon was just in her first quarter, presenting, perhaps, 
the most interesting condition for examination with high 
magnifying powers. Those two wonderful planets, Jupiter 
and Saturn, were not far distant from the moon, while 
other objects of interest among the double stars and 
nebula? presented a field for examination sufficiently exten- 
sive to satisfy the most anxious curiosity. Under the 
guidance of the doctor we were immediately conducted to 
the Equatorial Room, and the sliding roof having been 
rolled off, the starry heavens shone down upon us in all 
their calm beauty. The telescope was first directed to the 
upper horn of the moo". 

It is difficult to convey by words any idea of the splen- 
dors which are revealed to the eye by these great refrac- 
tors. The enchanted carpet, told of in the fairy tale, had 
not the power of the astronomer's glass. The carpet trans- 
ported the person who stood upon its surface to any point 
upon the earth, while the astronomer's tube lifts the be- 
holder from earth towards heaven, and in one single instant 
carries him through space thousands and even millions of 
miles towards the object he desires to examine. The 
moon's distance from the earth, in round numbers, is two 
hundred and forty thousand miles. "With a magnifying 
power of one thousand, the eye being placed to the tele- 



130 OEMS BY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



scope, the observer is instantly taken to within two hun- 
dred and forty miles of the moon's surface, and there, 
stationed in space, he may quietly inspect her mountain 
heights, her rocky precipices, and her deep dells. The line 
which separates the dark from the illuminated part of the 
disk, and which, to the naked eye, appears a soft and 
gentle curve, is found to be so rough and irregular that it 
can scarcely be called a line. At one place a range of 
mountains, lifting their silver peaks above the surface, 
throw back the sun's rays, and running far into the dark 
part, their summits catching less and less of the light, look 
like a string of dazzling pearls. At another point some 
mighty valley, perhaps forty or fifty miles in breadth, and 
hemmed in by a mountain range, is sleeping in the deep 
shade, while the mountains which environ it are bathed in 
light, and throw their long and spear-pointed shadows far 
in the vale below. 

The telescope was next directed to Jupiter, when a globe 
of surpassing splendor, accompanied by four bright and 
beautiful satellites, was revealed to the eye. The varie- 
gated surface of the planet, its dark and luminous belts, 
the rapid motions and perpetually varied positions of its 
moons, their eclipses and their transits across the disk of 
the primary, present objects of interest, with the examina- 
tion of which the eye can never grow weary. 

But a still more complex and astonishing system awaited 
our examination. The telescope was directed to a small 
dim star, not far distant from Jupiter, presenting nothing 
remarkable in magnitude or brilliancy to the unassisted 
eye. But with a power equal to one thousand eyes, how 
great the change ! An orb of surpassing beauty, encircled 
by two broad flat rings, and engirdled by no less than seven 
moons, comes up from out the deep distance to greet the 
astonished beholder. No person ever beheld this wonder- 
ful system for the first time without a burst of admiration. 
When we connect with the personal inspection of the 
Saturnian system the facts with reference to its mysterious 
arrangements, the stability of these two immense flat 
rings, some two hundred thousand miles in diameter, upon 



THE GOAL. 



131 



the exterior, separated from each other, and from the body 
of the planet, each revolving about the same axis on which 
the planet rolls, and with a velocity a thousand-fold greater 
than the speed with which the parts of the earth's equator 
are carried by its diurnal rotation ; when we imagine the 
diversified scenery which is presented by these rings, and 
by the moons, some rising, some setting, others waxing 
or waning, some going into or coming out from an eclipse, 
their vast proportions, the rapidity of their motions and 
changes, — the mind is overwhelmed in wonder and aston- 
ishment. 

We lingered in this enchanted spot until far into the 
night, no less charmed with the courtesy of our host, than 
with the exquisite treat which he had furnished for our 
gratification. We took our leave, and made our way back 
to the city. Unlike the great metropolis of England, quiet 
had settled calmly upon the sleeping city, and the echo of 
our carriage-wheels was the only sound which broke in 
upon the ear of night. 

I shall not attempt to narrate in order the matters of 
interest which occurred during my short stay in the capital 
of Bavaria. On the following day, Dr. Lamont met me 
at my hotel by appointment, to visit the various manufac- 
tories of astronomical instruments. In inspecting the 
object-glasses at the optical institute of Frauenhofer, the 
one which had been fully tested came up for examination. 
Being of the same size as the one used in the equatorial 
tube of the Royal Observatory, Dr. Lamont had used it 
for several months, and pronounced it to be superior to any 
one of the same dimensions he had ever seen. It had been 
applied to all the test objects in the heavens, and performed 
in a most admirable manner, and indeed the doctor had 
detected with this glass some stellar points in the great 
nebulae of Orion, never before seen by mortal eye. This 
was the glass in search of which I had traversed the ocean 
and the land. True, its magnitude and power were beyond 
anything I had dared to hope or anticipate; and what was 
a matter of far greater importance, the price was nine 
thousand dollars, and of course far beyond the sum which 
had been raised previous to my departure from home. 



132 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



I looked at other and smaller glasses, but I constantly 
came back to the Great Refractor, and finally resolved 
that this glass was the only one which could satisfy the 
desires of those of whose interests and wishes I was then 
the representative. But to contract was impossible, for I 
had not the power. All that I could do was to make a 
conditional arrangement, and to secure a sort of half prom- 
ise from Mr. Mertz, that the glass should not be sold until 
I could be heard from after my return to the city of Cin- 
cinnati. 

The details were soon arranged, and conditional terms 
fixed for two other smaller sizes. In the evening I again 
visited the observatory in company with the astronomer 
Dr. Lamont. Here as in Paris I received a polite invita- 
tion to enter the observatory as a student, but all the books 
and records being in the German language, with which I 
was not familiar, I determined after some hesitation to 
return to England, and secure, if possible, the advantages 
of a practical training in the Royal Observatory at Green- 
wich. 

I had now closed up the business, which had led me so 
far into the heart of Germany. I would gladly have lin- 
gered for weeks in this beautiful city, but the nature of 
my engagements on the other side of the waters required 
me to move with all the dispatch possible. I therefore 
gathered together the various plans, drawings, papers, and 
books, which had been presented to me, and prepared to 
commence a journey the terminus of which was no longer 
unknown. Home lay at the farther extremity. 



XVIII. 



THE KUDIMENTS. 

London, August 20, 1842. 
So far back towards home. Munich, Stuttgart, Heidel- 
berg, Manheim, Mayence, Bingen, Coblentz, Bonn, Cologne, 
Aix, Liege, Brussels, Ghent, Ostend, London. 

Thus runs the record of the journey from Munich 
to London, or rather the notes, for the record was 
never written. These notes, and a few letters, mere 
mile-posts, are all that remain to tell of the stay in 
London, and the trip home. Yet they are so pointed, 
that one scarcely misses the more elaborate account 
which would be expected. 

Professor Mitchel now had but one work to accom- 
plish before returning home. This was to acquire 
sufficient technical knowledge of instrumental astron- 
omy to enable him to begin work when his observa- 
tory should be finished, and his instruments mounted 
at Cincinnati. He greatly desired to gain admission 
for a brief season to the Royal Observatory at 
Greenwich. 

The following letter, written to Mrs. Mitchel the 
day after his arrival at London, can hardly fail to 
touch a sympathetic chord in the heart of one who 
has long been separated from home. 

London, August 21, 1842. 
Here I am alone in a small back chamber, third story, 
in the West End of London. I have just dined, and it 



134 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



being Sunday, I have retired to my solitary room to spend 
an hour with my sweet wife and dear children. I am on 
my return, and through the kind protection of our Father 
in Heaven, have been blessed with comparative health and 
comfort, so far as the last can be enjoyed by a wanderer 
from home, and all that the heart holds dear. How grate- 
ful I was when I felt my face turned once again towards 
the West! For more than two months, and over a distance 
of more than five thousand miles, as the sun rose in the 
morning, it invariably lighted the road I was going to 
travel ; now when he sets he flings his parting ray full in 
my face, and seems to cheer me on where his lovely beams 
are still lingering around my home and household gods. 
Dearest wife, how happy and grateful I shall be, should 
God in his providence again permit me to fold you in my 
arms, to clasp my dear children to my bosom, and feel that 
I am again surrounded by those who love me. Talk not 
to me of the pleasures of travelling. What are the mighty 
wonders of London ; what the joy, frivolity, and gorgeous 
splendor of Paris ; what the bright lakes and mountain- 
tops of independent Switzerland, or the gay scenes of sport 
and pleasure which crowd the continental metropoli ? Alas! 
I was alone, in the midst of thousands ; a dreary solitude 
reigned around me. There were merry faces and laughter, 
and music and the joyous dance ; but what was all that to 
me ? Could I sympathize with their feelings, as I gazed 
listlessly on the bright throng that floated heedlessly round 
me ? Could I dream for one moment that I excited even a 
transitory interest in one of the thousands who paused to 
catch a glimpse of the stranger? No, I was alone. When 
I met the little child upon the street, weeping bitterly 
because his older and stronger playmate had deserted him 
or outstripped him, then I could feel, I could stop and 
whisper a word of comfort in the ear of the poor little 
fellow, and dry his tears with a silver groschen. This I 
could do and feel, because I thought of my own far distant 
home, and my dear little ones, their joys and sorrows, and 
how much I could love a stranger who could remember 
and comfort them in my absence. 



THE RUDIMENTS. 



135 



If pleasure were the only object, or even any object of 
my search in this distant journey, I am sadly disappointed; 
not that I have not been kindly treated, not that every 
attention has not been shown me, but simply and solely 
that absence from home severs me from happiness. 

And how are the dear little ones? I cannot pass a 
pretty little boy on the street or in any of the many parks 
without wishing to clasp him in my arms. Should we be 
permitted again to meet, I wonder if anything can induce 
us to so far forget our mutual happiness as to differ seri- 
ously ever while we live. No ; you may do as you please, 
and you shall do as you please, for I hope and trust that 
we will be led to please each other. I have a sweet little 
present for you, selected by myself in a beautiful shop in 
Munich ; I know you will like it. And for the little girls 
and boys I have purchased some keepsakes characteristic 
of the places where they were bought. 

God bless and keep you and my dear children safely 
and securely in the arms of his love, and grant that we 
may again meet in health and happiness, and I am sure 
you will all join me in rendering Him a full tribute of 
grateful and heartfelt thanks. 

The following are extracts from notes. 

Sunday, 21 Aug., 1842. 

Rose at half-past seven with a severe headache. Break- 
fasted at nine o'clock. Went to church at half-past ten. 
Old church, bad music, queer arrangement, long service, 
but a good sermon well delivered. A prayer for pros- 
perity. More like Christian country than anything I have 
seen for a long time. 

Afternoon. Long walk down Charlotte Street to Ox- 
ford, down Oxford to Regent, down Regent to Waterloo 
Place. Crossed Pall Mall and entered St. James' Park. 
Methodist preacher ; swarms of people. Passed on to 
Green Park, thence along Piccadilly to Hyde Park. 
Sauntered along Serpentine River. Equipages, ladies. 
Sat down near two Frenchmen. Accosted an English- 



136 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHEZ. 



man, an old compagnon du voyage. Sauntered on with 
the crowd. Pretty flower-garden, goldfish, goat carriages. 
Return by Oxford Street, home ; must have walked six or 
eight miles. Did not see any beautiful faces ; all out of 
town, at least so they tell me. 

Monday. Rose at half-past five. Read till breakfast. 
To Greenwich, saw Airy. Call to-morrow at eleven A. M. 
Back again. Home, tired and outrageously hungry. 

Tuesday. Queer dream last night. All about wife and 
wains. Met on yesterday poor woman, several little chil- 
dren. Saw one of them, a little girl about five years old, 
pick up from the street a small piece of dirty bread with a 
much seeming joy, as if she had found a treasure. I 
turned round and said, " My little girl, have you no bread 
at home?" " No, sir, not any. Nothing to eat but two 
or three potatoes." I gave her some money and bade her 
buy a good supper. God help the starving ! 

Went to Greenwich at ten. Saw Mr. Airy. Says that 
a " transit circle " is the best for me. Goes in for the 
sliding roof for the observatory ; but opposes the Frauen- 
hofer mounting. Advised me to come to Cambridge, 
where I am now writing (with leadpencil), to see the 
mounting of the twenty -foot equatorial by himself. 
Reached Cambridge at half-past eight o'clock. Took a fly 
and went to the observatory, two miles out. Pretty road. 
Rang, and was ushered into Mrs. Challis' parlor. Pleasant 
lady. Remembered Bartlett well. Professor, little man, — 
c'est comme ga, — but polite, and no doubt clever. Showed 
me the equatorial. Immense stone foundation. Iron caps 
bolted to the stone, movable iron plate. 

Came to the Eagle. Boots booked me for London by 
the mail twelve o'clock. Back to London coach by half- 
past six. 

Wednesday. To Greenwich. Airy out as usual. Airy 
returned. Long talk about the mounting. Invited to 
dine. Mrs. Airy proposed to her husband to take me as 
an assistant. Accepted, and I agree to be present at nine 
o'clock next day to commence. Sheepshanks and Bailey 
came in. Fine fellows all. Went back to London with 
Sheepshanks. 



THE RUDIMENTS. 137 

He thus describes the attainment of bis wish to 
enter the observatory as a student, to his wife : — 

I have been permitted to attain the darling object of 
my hopes. Think of it, dear wife, I am now an assistant 
to the Astronomer Royal : his pupil, and he a kind, atten- 
tive, and most courteous instructor. This I owe to his 
most excellent wife. Ay, to a lady. I was invited to 
dine with the Astronomer Royal, and during dinner was 
expressing my mortification at my utter ignorance of the 
practical details of a well-regulated observatory, in con- 
versation with Mrs. Airy. She immediately and with a 
woman's sagacity and delicate tact saw what I wanted, 
and asked of her husband that I might be placed in the 
observatory as an assistant, and that he would become my 
guide and instructor. The boon was readily and most 
courteously granted (who could refuse such a lady ?), and 
at nine o'clock next morning I was duly introduced to the 
interior of the computing room, where I have been since 
assiduously engaged. I have left my mark in the great 
books of the observatory, — books which will go down to 
posterity, if my name does not. There are my computa- 
tions. And w r hen the Greenwich observations are pub- 
lished for 1842, I hope to show you what I did with my 
own hand. 

Thursday, 25th. Rose at six. Breakfasted at half- 
past seven, paid bill, and made for Greenwich. Lodging 
at the Metre. At the observatory. Commenced work 
by correcting transit observations and reducing to the 
mean centre wire, in observation in which all the wires 
are observed. Second, to get the exact time of passing 
the imaginary centre wire when some wires are omitted. 
Corrections for omitted wires. Examined clock-work and 
took notes thereon. Returned to the Metre at half-past 
four p. m. Dined, and then by railway to London. Re- 
turned to Metre. Drew the clock-work and described the 
same. Read Airy's report. 

Friday morning. Disagreeable company during the 
night. Retreat to other floor. Cold and miserable. Arose 



138 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



by times. Breakfasted and walked to the Observatory. 
Too early, and strolled in the Park. Commenced to work 
at nine o'clock. Corrections, transits of stars and planets. 

Four o'clock. Dined, and went to London. Returned, 
and tired enough. Evening, felt solitary, sick, and miser- 
able. Took a walk in the Park and found the hum of 
merry voices under every tree, but there was little music 
for me. Stood and watched the groups of little children 
at their sports. Longed to be at home. 

Evening. Entered the observatory and was kindly re- 
ceived by some of the assistants. Examined the transit 
instrument, and learned the mode of setting in declination 
for any star. Mr. Airy came in and kindly invited me to 
go with him to the south dome, where is located the great 
equatorial. Saturn, division of rings visible, wavy and 
colored. I found Jupiter, and measured his diameter with 
the double-image micrometer. Pretty operation. Reading 
simple. Measured same with the wire micrometer. Not 
so beautiful or accurate as the other. 

After closing our observations went to the house and 
was most kindly met by Mrs. and Miss Airy. Social 
and pleasant chat. Airy believes in Laplace's nebular hy- 
pothesis. Thinks it can be mathematically demonstrated 
by my method. Agrees witli my notions about resisting 
media. His work on Optics. 

Mrs. Airy invited me to come in at any time when I 
felt lonely, or to dinner or tea. Bade them good-night 
and returned to the Metre. (Mem. Mr. Airy promised 
me all his astronomical observations since 1828 for our 
library, when we get one.) 

Saturday. Rose early. Finished Airy's report. Great 
production ; laborious and valuable. Breakfasted and strolled 
in Park till half-past eight o'clock. Entered the observa- 
tory and went to work on clock error, then on small star. 
Correction in right ascension. Commenced the mural cir- 
cle. Reading the microscopes. 

Sunday morning. Slept late. Dreamed of home and 
happy greetings. Rose, dressed, and breakfasted. Wrote 
till nearly one o'clock. Walked in Greenwich Park. Old 



THE RUDIMENTS. 



139 



sailor and his telescope on the hilltop. Groups of people 
and herds of deer. Large, old chestnut-tree, under whose 
shades I am writing (in leadpeucil), planted, possibly, by 
Bradley himself. Cut my name on the oaken seat, a mark 
which will probably endure longer than myself. Walked 
back, and ordered dinner at four o'clock. Just returned 
from London, where I was rejoiced to meet my old friend 
Dr. Shotwell. He looks badly and has been very ill. 

The remaining notes consist of figures and rough 
pen or pencil drawings. Professor Mitchel's duties at 
the Cincinnati College did not admit of his giving 
time enough to more than get the rudiments of prac- 
tical astronomy at Greenwich. The rest he must 
work out for himself after his observatory should be 
established and his instruments mounted. 

Early in September he was again on the ocean. 
This time he concluded not to trust to the winds, but 
embarked on the steamer Great Western. He was 
spared the long voyage, the delays from calms and 
head winds, that had troubled him so much in his 
passage out. The voyage from Liverpool to New 
York was made in about two weeks. Yet the longest 
moments are those just before reaching home, and to 
the man who had an observatory to prepare for the 
reception of the telescope he had purchased, the trip 
back doubtless seemed longer than the trip out. Per- 
haps the reader may also be impatient to see the 
work accomplished. 

The night of arrival at New York is recorded in 
the notes. 

Soon after sundown we came in sight of Sandy Hook 
Light, and moved majestically up the bay by the light of 
a most lovely moon. The stars shone with dazzling beauty, 
and the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and especially Venus, 
seemed to vie with each other in their effulgent beauty. 



140 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MLTCHEL. 



Our own native shore was before and around us bathed in 
sweet moonlight, and the air we breathed seemed perfumed 
with spring odors. No one who has not experienced the 
sensation can possibly imagine the excitement of returning 
to one's native country after a long absence. The ship 
had been telegraphed at six p. m., and as we approached 
the quarantine she sent up signal rockets, lighted fireballs 
at the prow, and finally she opened a six-pounder, which 
sent the intelligence of our near approach booming over 
the calm and moonlit wave. At nine p. m. the surgeon 
came on board. At ten we were opposite the Battery, 
and at twelve I was safely ensconced at Cozzen's American 
Hotel. 

A week after, the traveller leaped from a coach 
into the embrace of wife and children. 



XIX. 



THE FIRST WATCH-TOWER. 

One who has thus far followed the young pro- 
fessor in his efforts may suppose that the work was 
in a fair way of completion. It was barely begun. 
Let us take a look at the situation as he found it on 
reaching Cincinnati in the fall of 1842. Seventy-five 
hundred dollars had been subscribed by people of all 
kinds of occupation, in small sums, the majority, pos- 
sibly, little dreaming that the enterprise would take 
shape, and that they would ever be called on for pay- 
ment. One thousand dollars had been collected and 
appropriated for the trip of the agent of the Astro- 
nomical Society abroad. A telescope had been con- 
tracted for at a cost of ninety-five hundred dollars. 
A lot must be procured on which to erect a building 
for an observatory, and some six thousand dollars 
would be the lowest estimated cost for its erection. 

The arrangement with Merz, of Munich, was a 
payment of one third cash, and the balance when the 
telescope should be shipped. The first sum to be 
paid was some three thousand dollars. To raise this 
money Professor Mitchel at once set himself to work, 
and by the following November transmitted an order 
with the first payment for the instrument through 
Dr. Lamont, of Munich. But in the mean time the 
Naval Observatory at Washington had taken shape, 
and Cincinnati came very near being too late. Dr. 
Lamont replied : — 



142 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Munich, February 28, 1843. 

My dear Sir: I received your letter of November 
15th some time ago, and immediately ordered the tele- 
scope for you; but I am sorry to say that on account of 
the orders Mr. Merz had previously received he cannot 
promise to finish your instrument in less than a year, 
though I have reason to believe that you shall have it 
earlier. At least, whatever I can do to forward the work 
shall be done. Mr. Merz is extremely anxious to main- 
tain a name so well deserved by himself and his pred- 
ecessor, and you may rely on having a perfect instrument. 
Happily when your order came, the object-glass which I 
had, some years ago, tested on several occasions, and which 
I consider as superior to the object-glass of our telescope, 
was still at the disposition of Mr. Merz. This, however, 
was a mere chance, and if it had not -been for an acci- 
dental circumstance it would have been previously taken 
for the establishment at Washington. 

I most sincerely congratulate you on the success of 
your enterprise, which has, indeed, greatly surpassed all 
my expectations. By your account I was aware of the 
liberal support given by the citizens of Cincinnati to your 
plan of erecting an observatory ; still I had some doubts 
how far such a great and expensive plan as you had pro- 
posed would finally succeed. Even in these parts of 
Europe, where science may be considered as forming one 
of the principal subjects of public and general interest, 
and where everything done to its support is so liberally 
rewarded by public acknowledgment, no observatory that 
could in any way be compared to that of Cincinnati has 
ever been erected by the voluntary contributions of a 
community. I think it may justly be considered an hon- 
orable distinction for the city of Cincinnati to have been 
the first in promoting in this manner and to such an emi- 
nent degree the interests of science. 

I hope you have already commenced the building of the 
observatory, or at least made the necessary arrangements 
to have it built as early as possible in the summer, that the 
walls may be perfectly dry when the instrument is put in 



THE FIRST WATCH-TOWER. 



143 



its place. Nothing is so dangerous for the object-glass as 
a damp room. You would risk spoiling the instrument 
entirely by putting it in the building too early. When the 
telescope is sent off I shall write down some particular 
directions with regard to its management, the means of 
preserving the glass, etc. I hope also I shall be able to 
send with the instrument a small collection of books, par- 
ticularly astronomical observations, as a beginning for a 
library, for your observatory ought to have a small library 
of such books as you will frequently have occasion to refer 
to for an account of the methods of observatories. I have 
already set aside copies of the different publications of our 
own observatory, and have written to Messrs. Quetelch, 
Littrow, and Madler, to get you a copy of the obser- 
vatories of Brussels, Vienna, and Dorpat. As you are 
probably yourself in correspondence with M. Struve, you 
might request him to send a copy of his "Mercurae Mi- 
crometiscae" for your observatory either to me or to M. 
Merz. 

I shall be very happy to hear from time to time how 
you are getting on, and what progress your observatory is 
making. If there is anything that I can do for the estab- 
lishment it will be done with the greatest pleasure. 

Wishing you health and perseverance in completing the 
arduous task you have undertaken, I remain, my dear sir, 
yours most sincerely, Lamont. 

Professor Mitchel seems to have quite captivated 
Dr. Lamont, and though they never saw each other 
except during the few days Mitchel stayed in Mu- 
nich, a sort of familiar friendship sprung up between 
them. Dr. Lamont was a bachelor. Professor Mitchel 
was so happy in his own home that he saw only hap- 
piness in the married state for his friends. In one of 
his letters to the good doctor, whose discoveries in 
the heavens had taken up so much of his time that 
he had not observed this important terrestrial bless- 
ing, Professor Mitchel rallied him on his bachelor- 



144 ORMSEY MACKNLGHT MITCHEL. 



hood, and advised him to look a little nearer to the 
earth. This called forth a postscript from the Mu- 
nich astronomer to the last letter quoted, which is an 
amusing change from telescopes to matrimony. 

F. S. On receiving your letter strongly recommending 
me to become a married man, I immediately made some 
inquiries with a view to fulfilling that condition which you 
consider so essential for deserving the name of philosopher, 
but to my utmost regret I was soon convinced that no lady 
can be found in this country who thinks it a sin to dance 
on a Sunday or to go to the theatre on a Sunday evening. 
Now, being a good Christian, I find it against my con- 
science, under these circumstances, to enter the happy state, 
however attractive in other respects. Though I have failed 
in the matrimonial business, I think I have been rather 
fortunate in magnetic investigations, and have lately at- 
tained some results, of which I shall give you an account 
in another letter. 

The account of the work at Cincinnati is continued 
from a periodical called the " Sidereal Messenger," 
published by Professor Mitchel several years after, 
and referred to later on in these pages. 

The contract having been made conditionally in July, 
1842, it was believed that the great refractor would be 
shipped for the United States in June, 1844, and to meet 
our engagements the sum of six thousand five hundred dol- 
lars must be raised. 

This amount was subscribed, but, in consequence of com- 
mercial difficulties, all efforts hitherto made to collect it had 
been unavailing, and in February, 1844, the Board of Con- 
trol solicited the Director of the Observatory to become 
the general agent of the society, and to collect all old sub- 
scriptions and obtain such new ones as might be necessary 
to make up the requisite sum. The accounts in the hands 
of the previous collector were accordingly turned over to 
me, and a systematic effort was made to close them up. A 
regular journal was kept of each day's work, noting the 



THE FIRST WATCH-TOWER. 



145 



number of hours employed, the persons visited, those actu- 
ally found, the sums collected, the promises to pay, the 
positive repudiations, the due bills taken, payable in cash 
and trade, and the day on which I was requested to call 
again. These intervals extended from a week or ten days 
to four months. The hour was in general fixed, and wheu 
the day rolled round, and the hour arrived, the agent of the 
society presented himself, and referred to the memoranda. 
In many cases another and another time was appointed, 
until, in some instances, almost as many calls were made % 
as there were dollars due. 

By .systematic perseverance, at the end of some forty 
days the sum of three thousand dollars was paid over to 
the treasurer as the amount collected from old subscribers. 
Nearly two thousand dollars of due bills had been taken, 
payable in carpenter's work, painting, dry-goods, boots and 
shoes, hats and caps, plastering, bricklaying, blacksmith's 
work, paints and oils, groceries, pork-barrels, flour, bacon 
and lard, hardware, iron, nails, etc.; in short, in every variety 
of trade, materials, and workmanship. The due bills in 
cash brought about five hundred dollars, and a further sum 
of three thousand dollars was required for the last remit- 
tance to Europe. 

It was determined to raise this amount in large sums 
from wealthy and liberal citizens who had already become 
members of our society. On paper the exact amount was 
made up in the simplest and most expeditious manner; 
eight names had the sum of two hundred dollars opposite 
them, ten names were marked one hundred dollars each, 
and the remaining ones fifty dollars each. Such was the 
singular accuracy in the calculation, that, when the theory 
was reduced to practice, it failed in but one instance. 

At a meeting held in May by the Board of Control, 
the treasurer reported that the entire amount was now in 
the treasury, with the exception of one hundred and fifty 
dollars. The Board adjourned to meet on the same day 
of the following week, when the deficiency was reduced by 
the agent to twenty-five dollars, and on the same day an 
order was passed to remit the entire amount to the Bar- 



146 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



ings & Brothers, London, to be paid to the manufacturer 
on the order of Dr. J. Lamont, of Munich, to be given on 
the packing of the instrument. The last twenty-five dol- 
lars were obtained, and placed in the treasurer's hands, im- 
mediately on the adjournment of the Board. Thus was 
completed, as it was supposed, by far the most difficult part 
of the enterprise. All the cash means of the society had 
now been exhausted, about eleven thousand dollars had 
been raised, and to extend the effort yet further, under the 
circumstances, seemed to be quite impossible. 

It now became necessary for Professor Mitchel to 
turn his attention to procuring a site on which to 
erect the observatory building. A large hill, some 
four hundred or five hundred feet high, lay just 
without the limits of the city, on the east. This 
property was owned by Mr. Nicholas Long worth, 
afterwards known as the great millionaire of the 
West. Mr. Long worth consented to give this prop- 
erty to the Astronomical Society, but being of a 
practical turn of mind, and undoubtedly not feeling 
much confidence in so ntopian a plan, he stipulated 
in the title-deed that, in case the property should 
ever cease to be used for astronomical purposes, it 
should revert to its donor or his heirs. 

Professor Mitchel enclosed the grounds and com- 
menced his preparations for the erection of the build- 
ing. He was obliged to make a road up the steep 
side of the hill, in itself no small undertaking, before 
the property could be made accessible. However, he 
succeeded in this, and in making the excavations and 
getting his foundations in during the summer of 
1843. 



XX. 



CORNER-STONE. 

Mitchel's experience with Mr. John Quincy 
Adams, when passing through Washington on his 
trip to Europe, had been so gratifying, and he had 
conceived so great an admiration for the venerable 
ex-President, both from the treatment he had re- 
ceived on that occasion and from Mr. Adams's early 
efforts in behalf of astronomical science, that he re- 
solved to try to induce him to become the orator 
on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of 
the observatory. He laid his plans before the Astro- 
nomical Society, a resolution was passed inviting Mr. 
Adams to deliver the inaugural address, and nothing 
remained but to induce him to accept. 

Armed with a copy of this resolution and a letter 
from the president of the Astronomical Society, 
Judge Burnet, Mitchel took a coach and started east 
to find Mr. Adams, and present the invitation in 
person. Learning that Mr. Adams was at Niagara 
spending a brief summer season with his family, 
Mitchel proceeded there, and as he had expected 
found the man he sought, surrounded by hosts of 
friends and relatives. Mr. Adams was getting very 
old and feeble, and it was not to be expected that he 
would consent, or that his family would permit him 
to make so long a journey in a stage-coach for any 
purpose whatever. 



148 



OEMSBY MACKXIGHT MIT C EEL. 



On the morning: of his arrival at Niagara, in com- 
pany with a gentleman who had agreed to pilot him, 
Mitchel started out to seek for the ex-President. He 
found him standing on the brink of the turbulent 
waters. It was not long before the astronomer was 
putting his persuasive tongue to one of the severest 
tests ever required of it. He afterwards wrote a full 
account of this interview. Only a portion of a copy 
made nearly fifty years ago remains. 

I referred to the testimonials of interest in our behalf 
which bad been received from distinguished individuals 
abroad. I spoke of the beauty of the site which had been 
donated for the observatory, crowning, as it does, the sum- 
mit of one of the beautiful hills which surround our city, 
of the magnificent view, embracing the entire city, and 
"La Belle Riviere" winding its way in the far distance, 
among the graceful heights, which descend to its waters. 
I then referred to the design of the building, of its beauty 
and convenience, and of the rapidity with which the amount 
necessary for its erection had been subscribed. I spoke of 
the eager interest with which we all looked forward to the 
interesting ceremony of laying the corner-stone ; " and now. 
sir." said I. looking the venerable man full in the eve. " I 
am the bearer of an invitation to a distinguished individual 
to deliver the oration on that occasion. I left my home 
with no other object in view, and expected to have been 
obliged to travel a thousand miles to accomplish my mis- 
sion. But, fortunately, I have been spared half my jour- 
ney by the accidental circumstances which have thrown me 
in your company. You. sir. are the only person in the 
Union who can lay the corner-stone of our observatory." 

Mr. Adams started. " TThat." said he. "it is not possi- 
ble you have selected me ? " 

" Yes, sir," I replied. you have been solicited for many 
reasons;" and here I urged the claims of the great West 
upon a share of his personal attention. I spoke of the 
signal services which his illustrious father had rendered to 



CORNER-STONE. 



149 



our Western world, of his own powerful efforts in our be- 
half ; of the importance of the success of this first leading 
enterprise ; of what had already been done, and of what 
remained to be accomplished. 

Mr. Adams listened to me patiently until I had finished, 
" Sir," said he, " if I were to follow the impulse of my 
present feeliugs I would unhesitatingly answer. - Yes, I will 
go at the risk of my life,' for God knows that if I could 
be spared to participate in so interesting a ceremony, one 
that I have feared I should never witness, I would be will- 
ing to die the next. My hopes would be more than real- 
ized, and the toil of twenty years fully repaid. But."'' he 
added, " I am old, verging toward seventy-seven, and I feel 
the hand of decay working fearfully upon my body, and, 
as my enemies say, upon my mind. I am averse to every- 
thing like show or parade, and even now find myself more 
pained than pleased with a thousand civilities I know are 
meant in the kindest possible sense. I have been per- 
suaded to make this journey for the benefit of my health, 
and hoped that I might have been permitted to do it in 
peace and quiet. Yet it is difficult to refuse warm-hearted 
courtesies. Here I am with my children and friends, with 
whom I would gladly remain. But here comes a messen- 
ger from General Porter, with whom I have promised to 
pass the night, and I presume he is growing impatient." 

At this moment the gentleman who had introduced me, 
stepped up and informed the ex-President that his host 
was waiting for him. Mr. Adams introduced me to his 
party, and invited me to join them on the following day in 
an excursion to the Canada shore. This invitation I ac- 
cepted, and finding that the gentlemen of the party were 
all much older than myself, I offered to conduct Mr. 
Adams to his quarters at General Porter's. He accepted 
my services, and at once resumed the conversation. 

He expressed the deepest possible interest in our plans 
and prospects, adverted to the extraordinary change that 
had taken place in the West within his recollection, and 
of his strong desire to see this wonderful country. But 
the length of the journey, his impaired constitution, his 



150 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



advanced age, the exhaustive influence of high excitement, 
all these seemed almost to forbid the hope that he could 
accept the invitation ; while, on the other hand, the hope 
that he might be instrumental in bringing to a successful 
termination so important an effort, and one destined to ex- 
ert such powerful influences, seemed to make it impossible 
to decline. As we entered the gateway, he said : 

I cannot refuse you to-night. I will reflect on it. I 
will counsel with some of my friends ; to-morrow we meet 
again, and then we will see what is best to be done." 

As we separated I handed him the letters, which up to 
this time had remained in my pocket. I bade the ex- Pres- 
ident good-night, and returned to my room in the Cataract 
House, in a state of excitement more easily imagined than 
described. For nearly two hours I had been struggling 
for the highest prize at which I had ever grasped, and 
what might yet be the result no one could divine. 

Mr. Adams found himself between two fires : his 
daughters^, on the one hand, and the ardent young 
astronomer, on the other. He doubtless remembered 
the jeers with which his own efforts in endeavoring 
to establish an observatory by aid of the government 
of the United States, had been received, and thought 
with pride of standing before the country as the 
orator on the occasion of inaugurating an institution 
founded by the people. These considerations, the 
interest he naturally took in the work, triumphed, 
and he consented to deliver the oration. 

Before leaving for Cincinnati for the accomplish- 
ment of the purpose for which he was invited, 
Mr. Adams, then in Congress, addressed his con- 
stituents, giving his reasons for withdrawing him- 
self temporarily from their service. In this address 
he made use of the following language : — 



CORNER-STONE. 



151 



Let me then indulge the hope that I do not deceive my- 
self by the belief that, in accepting this invitation person- 
ally so honorable to me, all my gratitude is due to the dis- 
tinguished citizens and excellent society by which it is ten- 
dered ; but that in undertaking this journey at this season 
of the year and at this period of my life, for the solitary 
purpose of laying in a far distant State the corner-stone of 
an edifice devoted to the cause of science, I am still dis- 
charging a duty in your service ; and if, in after-time, from 
the summit of that edifice, the light of a clearer vision and 
deeper insight into the works of creation shall be shed upon 
the race of man, may the memory of your children be for 
one moment reminded that in the dedication of that build- 
ing your representative took a part, and that in departing 
for its performance he was cheered by the smile of your 
approbation, and sped on his way by your good wishes and 
prayers, that the service may be successfully performed. 

The 9th of November, 1843, was a gala day at 
Cincinnati. The advent of so illustrious a man as 
John Quincy Adams was a signal for the turning 
out of its citizens. The day unfortunately proved 
unpropitious. In a rain storm the members of the 
Astronomical Society marched up the side of the 
hill, which had been named in honor of the orator of 
the day, and there listened to the last great oration 
Mr. Adams ever delivered. Judge Burnet intro- 
duced the orator, who minutely traced to his audi- 
tors the progress of astronomical science from that 
remote period when the constellations were fashioned 
into the shape of animals or men to the period in 
which he spoke. At the close of his oration he ad- 
vanced to the corner-stone and, after briefly pictur- 
ing institutions of other kinds already built, the 
changes that had recently come over the country, he 
concluded : — 



152 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



In the midst of the delight with which your hearts will 
expand at the contemplation of this cheering view, does 
the love of the arts and sciences, of civilization, which are 
spreading this enchanting scene before you, prompt the 
inquiry, whether among these monuments of civilized in- 
dustry, perseverance, ingenuity, there is one lighthouse of 
the skies, one tower erected on the bosom of the earth, 
to enable the keen-eyed observer of the heavenly vault 
and the profound calculator of the infinite series, to watch 
from night to night through the circling year the move- 
ments of the starry heavens and their unnumbered worlds, 
and report to you and the civilized race of men the dis- 
coveries yet to be revealed to the tireless and penetrating 
eye of human curiosity ? Look around you, fellow-citi- 
zens. Look from the St. John to the Sabine. Look 
from the Neversink to the mouth of the Columbia, and 
you will find, not one ! not one ! or, if one, not of our 
erection, but from funds liberally poured out from the 
coffers of that motherland from whom our fathers have 
decreed an eternal separation. 

Fellow-citizens ! The Astronomical Society of Cincin- 
nati have determined to wipe the reproach from the fair 
fame of our beloved country. Here, upon this spot, they 
have determined shall arise an edifice devoted to the culti- 
vation and advancement of the science of astronomy, 
devoted to a skilful and persevering search into the laws 
of the physical creation. For the execution of this pur- 
pose they have done me the honor to invite me from a 
distance of a thousand miles to come and share with them 
the office of laying the corner-stone of that edifice. And 
for the performance of that service we are now assembled. 
Let us proceed then so to do ; and here in the presence of 
the vast multitude of the free citizens of the United States 
of America, of the State of Ohio and the city of Cincin- 
nati, I do lay this corner-stone. .... 



XXI. 



FINISHED AND EQUIPPED. 

Work on the building was suspended during the 
winter, but was resumed early the following spring. 
The account is continued from the source mentioned 
in a former chapter. 

Some two or three thousand dollars had been subscribed, 
payable in work and materials. Owing to a slight change 
in the plan of the building, the foundation walls, already 
laid in the fall of 1843, were taken up and relaid. Find- 
ing it quite impossible to induce any master workman to 
take the contract for the building with the many contin- 
gencies by which our affairs were surrounded, I determined 
to hire workmen by the day, and superintend the erection 
of the building personally. In attempting to contract for 
the delivery of brick on the summit of Mount Adams, such 
an enormous price was demanded for the hauling, in con- 
sequence of the steepness of the hill, that all idea of a 
brick building was at once abandoned, and it was determined 
to build of limestone, an abundant supply of which could 
be had on the grounds of the society, by quarrying. Hav- 
ing matured my plans, securing the occasional assistance 
of a carpenter, about the beginning of June, 1844, I hired 
two masons, one of whom was to receive an extra sum for 
hiring the hands, keeping their time, and acting as the 
master workman. One tender to these workmen constituted 
the entire force with which I commenced the erection of a 
building, which if prosecuted in the same humble manner, 
would have required about twenty years for its completion. 
And yet our title-bond required that the building should be 
finished in the following June, or a forfeiture of the title 



154 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



by which we hold the present beautiful site must follow. 
My master mason seemed quite confounded when told that 
he must commence work with such a force. In the outset, 
difficulties were thick and obstinate. Exorbitant charges 
were made for delivering lime. I at once commenced the 
building of a lime kiln, and in a few days had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing it well filled and on fire ; true, it caved in 
once or twice, with other little accidents, but a full supply 
of lime was obtained, and at a cheap rate. 

Sand was the next item, for which the most extravagant 
charges were made. I found this so ruinous that an effort 
was made, and finally I obtained permission to open a sand 
pit, which had long been closed for fear of caving down a 
house, on the side of the hill above, by further excavation. 
An absolute refusal was at first given, but systematic per- 
severance again succeeded, and the pit was reopened. The 
distance was comparatively short, but the price of mere 
hauling was so great that I was forced to purchase horses, 
and in not a few instances fill the carts with my own hands, 
and actually drive them to the top of the hill, thus demon- 
strating practically how many loads could be fairly made 
in a day. 

Another difficulty yet remained — no water could be 
found nearer than the foot of the hill, half a mile distant, 
and to haul all the water so great a distance would have 
cost a large sum. I selected one of the deepest ravines on 
the hilltop, and throwing a dam across, while it was 
actually raining, I had the pleasure of seeing it fill rapidly 
from the hillsides, and in this way an abundant supply was 
obtained for the mixing of mortar, at a very moderate ex- 
pense of hauling. 

Thus prepared, the building was commenced, with two 
masons and one tender during the first week. At the close 
of the week I had raised sufficient funds to pay off my 
hands, and directed the foreman to employ for the follow- 
ing week two additional masons and a tender. To supply 
this force with materials several hauds were employed in 
the quarry, in the lime kiln, and in the sand pit, all of 
whom were hired by the day, to be paid half cash and the 



FINISHED AND EQUIPPED. 155 



balance in trade. During all this time, I may remark that 
I was discharging my duties as Professor of Mathematics 
and Philosophy in the Cincinnati College, and teaching five 
hours in each day. Before eight o'clock in the morning I 
had visited all my workmen in the building, in the lime 
kiln, sand pit, and stone quarry ; — at that hour my duties 
in the college commenced, and closed at one. By two 
o'clock p. M. I was again with my workmen, or engaged 
in raising the means of paying them on Saturday night. 
The third week the number of hands was again doubled, 
the fourth week produced a like increase, until finally not 
less than fifty day laborers were actually engaged in the 
erection of the Cincinnati Observatory. Each Saturday 
night exhausted all my funds; but I commenced the next 
week in the full confidence that industry and perseverance 
would work out their legitimate results. To raise the 
cash means required was the great difficulty. I frequently 
made four or five trades to turn my due bills, payable in 
trade, into cash. I not unfrequently went to individuals 
and sold them their own due bills payable in merchandise, 
for cash, by making a discount. The pork merchants paid 
me cash for my due bills, payable in barrels and lard kegs; 
and in this way I managed to obtain sufficient cash means 
to prosecute the work vigorously during the months of 
July and August; and in September I had the satisfaction 
to see the building up and covered, without having incurred 
one dollar of debt. At one period, I presume, one hundred 
hands were employed at the same time in the prosecution 
of the work ; more than fifty hands on the hill, and as 
many in the city in the various workshops, paying their 
subscriptions by work for different parts of the building. 
The doors were in the hands of one carpenter, the window- 
frames in those of another; a third was employed on the 
sash ; a painter took them from the joiner, and in turn 
delivered them to a glazier ; while a carpenter paid his 
stock by hanging them, with weights purchased by stock, 
and with cords obtained in the same way. Many locks 
were furnished by our own townsmen in payment of their 
subscriptions. Lumber, sawing, flooring, roofing, painting, 



156 CRMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



mantels, steps, hearths, hardware, lathing, doors, windows, 
glass, and painting, were in like manner obtained. At the 
beginning of each week my master carpenter generally 
gave me a bill of lumber and materials wanted during the 
week. In case they had not been already subscribed, the 
stock book was resorted to, and there was no relaxing of 
effort until the necessary articles were obtained. If a tier 
of joists were wanted, the saw-mills were visited, and in 
some instances the joists for the same floor came from two 
or three different mills. 

On covering the building, the great crowd of hands, em- 
ployed as masons, tenders, lime-burners, quarry-men, sand 
and water men, were paid off and discharged; 1 and it now 
seemed that the heavy pressure was passed, and that one 
might again breathe free, after the responsibility of such 
heavy weekly payments was removed. 

The observatory building was modelled after the 
one at Munich. The roof rolled to one side, on a 
track propelled by means of ropes, and wound around 
a drum turned by means of cogwheels and a crank. 
This method of exposing the heavens, in later obser- 
vatories gave place to the turret or the dome, re- 
volving on cannon-balls or on wheels, and having a 
convenient slit closed by a shutter which could be 
opened or closed at will. The dome is now almost 
universally used. 

Meanwhile Dr. Lam out reported progress upon 
the telescope being finished at Munich. 

Munich, July 29, 1844. 
My dear Sir : I have just received your letter of 
June 18th, and see by it that my letter of April 9th had 
not reached you then. This is most disagreeable, as from 

1 It was found impossible to complete the building soon enough to 
receive the telescope on its arrival, without incurring some debt. 
Professor Mitchel therefore was compelled to draw on his private 
means, which were slender enough. 



FINISHED AND EQUIPPED. 



157 



not having received an answer you might have been led 
not only to accuse me of great negligence, but also to sup- 
pose that I take less interest now in the observatory of 
Cincinnati than I did from the commencement; which I 
assure you is not the case. 

At Mr. Merz's establishment they are just now occupied 
in polishing the different parts of your refractor. The 
instrument will be packed by the end of August. It is 
furnished exactly with the same means for taking observa- 
tions which have been used by M. Struve. I have ordered 
no other kind of micrometer for you but Froenhofer's 1°, 
because M. Merz has never constructed any other. 

We have now a new comet. I have observed it on two 
nights. When the refractor is sent off I will write you 
again, and give you some directions about the mounting. 
Believe me, my dear sir, 

Yours most sincerely, 

Lamont. 

When the telescope came from Europe, in Febru- 
ary, 1845, its parts were packed in separate boxes, 
carefully marked, with full instructions for putting 
them together. Nevertheless it required some natu- 
ral mechanical skill to join these parts properly. It 
must, of course, be solidly mounted. First came the 
stone pier, some ten feet square, built from below 
the surface of the soil to the observing-room. On 
that rested a single stone about eight feet high, broad 
at the base, and sloping to the top. On this rested 
a metal slab, to which the pivot machinery of the 
telescope was attached. Professor Mitchel completed 
his task successfully, and had the satisfaction of see- 
ing the instrument rest firmly on its pedestal, and so 
delicately balanced that a child could easily move it, 
pointing it at different objects in the heavens. When 
the equatorial was mounted at Cincinnati in 1845, it 
was, with one exception (the equatorial at Pultowa), 
the finest refracting telescope in the world. 



158 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



There have been few if any equatorials mounted 
in this country so graceful in appearance as the one 
mounted at Mount Adams. 1 Every feature was per- 
fect. The workmanship was finished ; the parts 
blended together harmoniously ; the whole, when put 
together on the top of the stone column cut for the 
purpose, was certainly as graceful in its proportions 
as any piece of work of the kind ever constructed. 

1 So great has been the improvement in these instruments since 
the mounting of the Cincinnati equatorial, that a description would 
seem out of date. 



XXII. 



LECTURES. — RECOMMENDATIONS. 

One of the main objections brought against the 
plan of erecting an observatory in Cincinnati was 
that when finished it would still be without any en- 
dowment, and there would be no income to support 
it. In order to meet this objection, Professor Mitchel 
pledged himself to sustain the observatory free of 
expense to the Astronomical Society for ten years, 
provided no means for its support were otherwise 
forthcoming. To do this he relied on a salary he 
was receiving from the Cincinnati College of about 
two thousand dollars. 

While engaged in finishing the work on the build- 
ing he received the severest check of the many by 
which he had been met since the inception of the 
enterprise. The building known as the Cincinnati 
College took fire and burned to the ground. Within 
a few hours every dollar of his income was cut off. 

To abandon the observatory was not to be con- 
sidered. Yet something must be done to furnish a 
livelihood. Another professorship could not be had. 
He had been eminently successful in his astronomical 
lectures in a limited field. Could he sustain himself 
in communities where he was not known ? The 
lecture season was in the winter, when observations 
were most difficult and liable to interruptions from 
clouds. If he could replace his lost income by this 



160 ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



means, and at this season, he would have all the rest 
of the year to devote to the observatory. He deter- 
mined to try it. 

He often told how he went to Boston, young and 
unknown in the field of science, a field which even 
then in the Athens of America had but a limited 
number of votaries, and they likely to be rather 
competitors than listeners. He advertised that 
O. M. Mitchel would lecture on a certain night at 
Tremont Temple. The act was as audacious as his 
attempt to build an observatory in the wild West. 
But he believed that if he could not charm Boston 
he could not charm any community, and he made up 
his mind to succeed then and there or not at all. 

On the night of the lecture, taking Mrs. Mitchel 
on his arm (he never attempted any move without 
her if he could help it), they proceeded through a 
drizzling rain to the hall in which he was to lec- 
ture. As they approached, not a soul could be seen 
going in. The wind soughed, the street lamps flick- 
ered, and the rain fell ; and the two, thinking alike 
of children at home to be fed and an observatory to 
be conducted, felt their hearts sink to the lowest 
ebb. But when the tide turned in the man's breast, 
it turned with a rushing as of great waters. They 
had walked past the hall to the corner, not having 
the heart to enter. Then, suddenly summoning all 
his forces, he swung about, walked back quickly to 
the door, marched up to the pulpit, and delivered to 
an audience of about one hundred people one of the 
most brilliant lectures he ever gave. 

When he had finished, scarcely a person left the 
house. All gathered round him and promised that 
in future he should never want for an audience in 



LECTURES. 



— RE COM MEN DA TIONS. 



161 



Boston. From that time forward the throngs that 
gathered to hear him increased with every lecture. 
He never forgot this kind reception of Bostonians, 
and afterwards often referred to his success there as 
one of the pleasantest as well as the most welcome 
of his triumphs. 

At one of these lectures, a gentleman from Brook- 
lyn, then on a visit to Boston, Mr. Joseph. Ripley, 
sat in the audience. Being a cultivated man, he was 
naturally attracted by the subject, and was especially 
delighted with the way Professor Mitchel handled 
it. He made the lecturer's acquaintance, and there 
sprang up a friendship which death only terminated. 

Professor Mitchel soon after lectured in New 
York, but found it more difficult to secure an audi- 
ence. He went back to Cincinnati, a good deal 
disappointed. Soon after he received a letter from 
his new acquaintance, Mr. Ripley, asking him if he 
would consent to lecture in Brooklyn. Professor 
Mitchel, not having been encouraged with the result 
of his effort in New York, declined. Mr. Ripley 
persisted, promising to pave the way, and was so 
urgent in his entreaty that Professor Mitchel at last 
wrote him : " I will lecture in Brooklyn, if only 
Ripley and his wife come to hear me." Mr. Ripley 
made good his word. The more intellectual circles 
of Brooklyn were notified of the course, and the lec- 
turer had the satisfaction of addressing fine audi- 
ences. 

Professor Mitchel spoke extemporaneously and 
without notes. He soon abandoned the contrivance 
that he had manufactured with which to give repre- 
sentations of telescopic views of the heavenly bodies. 
Nor did he use diagrams or charts. He relied solely 



162 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



on his own ingenuity of illustration by language. 
He would begin to speak in an easy and dignified 
manner, soon dropping into a colloquial style suited 
to the lecture-roorn. His imagination was rich in 
crystal globes, threads of light, spirals, and many 
such means of illustration of which the mind can 
readily conceive, and from these he would artfully 
lead his auditors in among worlds and orbits of 
worlds till they would grasp, or fancy that they 
grasped, the greater in the vivid picture of the less. 

At times flights of eloquence would come to him; 
it seemed from out the heavenly hosts, so grand was 
the inspiration. Starting from the earth, he would 
wheel away with his hearers far into space, taking 
them from earth to sun, from sun to system, from 
system to universe, till it seemed that he had left 
the earth a mere speck behind them. Then there 
would come a sort of dread that the small figure 
standing on the rostrum could never lead them back. 
Yet when the uttermost point had been reached, as 
a bird stretches its wings and sails in gently inclin- 
ing circles downward, he would descend to the hall 
from whence he started. Then, when the spell was 
loosed, one might hear a sigh of relief throughout the 
audience. 

Having established an observatory in America, and 
feeling that the query might suggest itself to num- 
bers of those whom he had induced to contribute for 
the purpose, " What is it all for, after all? " Professor 
Mitch el asked Mr. Airy to write out a brief state- 
ment of an observatory's uses. Mr. Airy's reply was 
written in November, 1842. A summary of it is as 
follows : — 



LECTURES. — RECOMMENDATIONS. 163 



There is no one branch of science which unites or com- 
bines almost all the others in so remarkable a degree as 
astronomy. Geology, the properties of the atmosphere, 
optics, and even chemistry and meteorology in combination 
with some of these, all receive light from or throw light 
upon some of the observations or theories of astronomy. 1 

An observatory has always been a primary point of 
reference for accurate geography. 

An observatory under proper conduct has always been 
the headquarters of the science of the country in which 
it stands. 

A single view through a large telescope will produce 
an impression which a long study of printed descriptions 
would fail to produce. The thing scrutinized is seen to 
be real ; to have some peculiarities which no verbal descrip- 
tion or drawing can present, and, in a word, is seen to be 
wonderful. I should think that the habits of American 
citizens, and the circumstances under which the funds of 
the observatory have been raised, would render it probable 
that the utility of the observatory in this way may be very 
extensive. And if the taste for astronomical observation 
in this general way shall become widely spread, it will 
soon be followed by a taste for other sciences. 

The immediate astronomical uses of the observatory 
will be the same as those of other observatories in some 
of their classes of observation ; but the principal uses as 
conducing to general astronomical advance will be in those 
matters in which your geographical position gives you the 
command of phenomena, either not seen in Europe or the 
Cape of Good Hope, or seen under very different circum- 
stances. Solar eclipses are seen by you which are not seen 
by us. The same eclipses may be seen somewhat earlier 
by you than by us, and the small difference of time may 
give the means of elucidating some of the strange appear- 
ances observed in the last eclipse. Many occultations, 
many phenomena of Jupiter's satellites, etc., which are lost 
in this country, will be caught by you. 

1 Since this was written, chemistry and astronomy have become 
more closely allied by the spectroscope. 



164 



RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



Dr. Lamont wrote his congratulations with all the 
kindly interest which had characterized him since his 
first meeting with Professor Mitchel at Munich : — 

Munich, June 16, 1845. 
I congratulate you most heartily on the happy accom- 
plishment of the difficult task you have undertaken. You 
are probably at this moment occupied in observing the 
superb comet which Heaven has sent on purpose for try- 
ing your telescope. I was the first, I believe, in Europe 
to see this comet. I discovered it about half-past nine 
o'clock on the evening of the 7th of June. Encke saw it 
the same evening, somewhat later. Have you tried to cal- 
culate its orbit ? For this purpose I would recommend 
you the method of Olbers. The best explanation of it 
is to be found in Encke's Jahrbuch. You probably have 
this work ; if not, I think you should endeavor to get it. 
If you want to calculate the elliptic elements of a comet, 
Olbers' method will not do. You must have Gauss' Theoria 
Motus Corporum Ccelestium. I may name here another 
excellent work, Pontecoulant's Theorie du Systeme du 
Monde. The work is not yet complete. His demonstra- 
tions and analytical methods are to be preferred to those 
of Laplace. 

I suppose you have by this time acquired the habit of 
observing with the telescope, for it requires some time to 
become perfectly acquainted with the use and construction 
of the instrument. To read the circle of the micrometer 
and the turns of the screw you must take a common lens, 
magnifying about three or four times. At night you will 
find it extremely difficult at first to read the circle, and in 
some positions of the micrometer also to read the turns of 
the screw ; but it will become easier when you have prac- 
tised for some time. To protect the object-glass from con- 
densation of vapor you must fix a short tube of paper, or 
some other hygrometric substance, to the end of the tele- 
scope, thus — 



LE CTURES, — RE COM MEND A Tl ONS. 165 



I have told Mr. Merz to send you the necessary direc- 
tions about the clamping of the endless screw that turns 
the right ascension circle. I cannot exactly explain it to 
you, because the mechanism is different from that of our 
telescope. 

Believe me, my dear sir, 

Yours most sincerely, 

Lamont. 

With reference to the special character of the 
work that Professor Mitchel should occupy himself 
with, Mr. Airy thus advised : — 

The first application of your meridional instruments must 
be for the exact determination of your geographical lati- 
tude and longitude. The former of these will be ascer- 
tained in a short time. The latter requires a long series 
of lunar transits, and is altogether a very tedious business, 
but it must be done. 

In regard to other uses of the meridional instruments I 
warn you specially against undertaking any regular series 
of observations. They cannot be undertaken without a 
personal establishment larger than you can ever expect to 
have, and a more complete devotion to the dull drudgery 
of an observatory than any person in Cincinnati can ever 
be expected to give ; and until they have been followed 
for years in the same place, they are valueless. Besides, 
most of the subjects on which you could fix are worked 
over and over again in existing observatories. For instance, 
there are probably twenty observatories where the sun and 
principal stars are observed with considerable regularity ; 
it is therefore useless for you to attempt to observe them 
except as auxiliaries to other observatories. You will not 
have the personal strength necessary for following observa- 



166 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



tions of the moon and planets through all hours of the 
night, as is done at Greenwich (although for the longitude 
of Cincinnati the moon ought to be so observed in the first 
instance), and there are plenty of observatories in which 
they are observed at the easy hours, therefore it is useless 
for you to take up them. The subject most likely to oc- 
cupy your meridional instruments is the determination of 
the places of some classes of stars, which may be concerned 
in your equatorial observations. 

The whole of your energies, in fact, ought to be given 
to your large equatorial. There are very few instruments 
of this class which are used : one in England, and two or 
three on the Continent. In the observation of double stars, 
of nebulae, of comets, of planets and their satellites, even 
mere extra-meridional observations of right ascension and 
polar distance applying to these objects (small planets, for 
instance) which cannot at certain times be seen on the 
meridian ; the defection of these different objects under 
different circumstances, — these and similar pursuits offer a 
vast field which is yet entirely open. These, too, are the 
pursuits which will be understood best by your fellow-citi- 
zens, and which will most certainly insure their permanent 
support of the institution. I should think it likely also, 
that, in observations of this inviting nature, the interest 
taken in the subject would secure you the assistance of 
ambitious young men, which, in less inviting subjects, might 
be bought with money. 

I shall conclude this long letter with saying that I have 
entered upon these details because I understand it to be 
your desire. Possibly, in the recollection of my former 
position of your first master in the routine of observatory 
v/ork, I may have expressed myself too decidedly. I am, 
however, confident that the rules which I have laid down 
are generally applicable to your circumstances. I shall be 
much gratified if this communication be received by the 
managing body of the observatory, and particularly by Mr. 
John Quincy Adams, as an indication of the interest which 
I take in the institution and of the deep respect which 
I feel for that eminent man. 



LECTURES. — RE COMMEND A TIONS. 167 



Mr. Struve recommended attention to Jupiter's 
satellites : — 

Astronomy wants a series of good eclipses of the " first " 
satellite, observed during several years, to determine anew 
the equation of light and by this means its velocity. It is 
a question whether the velocity of reflected light is the 
same as that of the fixed stars, and no observatory is in a 
more favorable position than your own. A real difference 
would be an important discovery in the theory of light. 



XXIII. 



FIRST OBSERVATIONS. 

We have reached a point where we may safely as- 
sume that the enterprise begun by Professor Mitchel 
has been accomplished. A refractor second to none 
of its time has been purchased ; a building for its 
reception has been erected; the telescope has ar- 
rived and been mounted. A plan, pronounced Utopian 
by many at the time of its inception, and even at 
the present day (when the situation in 1842 is con- 
sidered) certainly largely tinged with the intangible 
hues of the rainbow, has been successfully carried 
through and finished. We have observed Professor 
Mitchel's methods. They were certainly not such 
•methods as one would think of relying on to-day to 
accomplish a similar object. We noticed in him, 
when a still younger man, a tendency which we have 
held in suspense, so to speak, that he might show us 
whether it was quixotism or ability to accomplish 
extraordinary things. The record of the accomplish- 
ment of one seemingly quixotic enterprise is before 
the reader, who is at liberty to judge for himself of 
this characteristic in the subject of this story. 

Professor Mitchel was obliged to do his work alone. 
Whenever two persons were required, — the one to 
observe and the other to record, — Mrs. Mitchel would 
be called in either as observer or recorder, and very 
few of the early important observations made at Mt. 
Adams were made without her assistance. 



FIRST OBSERVATIONS. 



169 



After mounting the equatorial an addition was 
made to the main building in which to mount a 
meridional instrument. A transit was loaned by the 
superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. 
This was fixed to move on its axis in the plane of the 
meridian, each axis being mounted on a small stone 
column, the whole resting on a pier similar to that 
which supported the equatorial. 

Among the different subjects for investigation 
kindly recommended to him, Professor Mitchel se- 
lected double and multiple stars, and set himself 
about making a catalogue of such from 15° of south- 
ern declination to the south. M. Struve had done 
considerable work in the observation of double stars, 
and Professor Mitchel made some valuable additions 
to M. Struve's discoveries. 

Among other stars examined by Mitchel (July, 
1845) was Alpha Scorpii (Antares, a, in the constel- 
lation of the Scorpion), one of the large southern 
stars. Some twenty or more years before, a German 
astronomer, while observing an occultation of Antares 
by the moon, in noting the instant at which the star 
appeared from behind the moon thought he saw a 
point of light first break from behind the moon, and 
in a few moments the whole star burst out, not by 
degrees, but in a single instant. He ventured to 
suggest that there might be a small star preceding 
the large one, and that it only became visible when 
the large one was hid by the moon. The suggestion 
received little attention, and Antares was generally 
believed to be single. 

In the following paragraph, Mitchel describes his 
own investigations and their results : — 



170 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



During the months of June and July, 1845, this star was 
the first object which presented itself in the early twilight 
of the evening, and I was in this way induced to make 
frequent examinations. I now detected a minute point of 
light buried in the rays of the large star, and uudistin- 
guishable except by the color. The large star is red, while 
the small one is blue. I was at first induced to believe 
that there was some defect in the object-glass, and made 
many changes, but the small stellar point still remained. 
I then reduced the size of the aperture of the object-glass, 
receiving less light from the large star, and then applying 
a high magnifier. The two stars stood out clearly and 
perfectly defined. 

Professor Mitchel had the pleasure of announcing 
first of all astronomers that Antares was double. M. 
Struve, writing from the observatory at Pultowa, 
Russia, on the 13th of November, 1846, said: — 

Antares as a double star is a new discovery, for in its 
great southern declination no northern observatory would 
see it double, and the Italian observers either care little 
for these objects, or have no instruments sufficiently power- 
ful for the purpose. 

It happened during this summer that the equato- 
rial was mounted, the planet Mars was in opposition 
with the sun; that is, Mars, being the next exterior 
planet in order from the sun, had come round to a 
point where the sun, the earth, and Mars were in 
a direct line. This brought Mars nearly two hun- 
dred millions of miles nearer to the earth than when 
the planet and the earth were on opposite sides of 
the sun. Every evening as the sun set Mars rose 
large and red in the east. It thus presented a favor- 
able object upon which Mitchel could test the powers 
of his refractor. During the months of July and 
August he made frequent observations. German 



FIRST OBSERVATIONS. 171 



astronomers "had seen, at the south pole of the planet, 
a white, glittering, well-defined spot, which had long 
been observed, and called the " Snow Zone." Pro- 
fessor Mitchel recorded some singular phenomena 
connected with the Snow Zone, which had not been 
noticed elsewhere. 

From the time of the burning of the college build- 
ing and the consequent cutting off of Professor 
Mitchel's income, his necessities were supplied from 
the proceeds of his lectures. Every winter would 
find him in the lecture field, and by spring he 
would return with means with which to carry on his 
work at the observatory till the following autumn. 
However, the wants of his growing family absorbed 
nearly all that came to him from this source, and he 
had no other means. There was no endowment for 
the observatory, and every cent spent in carrying it 
on after it had been erected and equipped must come 
from its director. 1 During the first few years after 
its completion, he was observer, computer, assistant, 
janitor, and occupied in showing the wonders of the 
heavens to visitors. The plan on which he had raised 
the means for his enterprise practically worked badly. 
He had given the stockholders the privilege of visit- 
ing the observatory and the use of its equatorial. 

1 A change afterwards came. Mitchel, writing under date of July 
1, 1850, says: "Our society, under the apprehension that our obser- 
vatory might be dismantled, have raised twenty-five hundred dollars 
to pay off old scores, and one thousand a year for three years to pay 
the contingent expenses of the observatory. This somewhat changes 
my position. At a meeting held some six weeks since, a resolution to 
appoint a committee to inquire into the expediency of disposing of the 
property of the society was literally hooted down, although many sup- 
posed that the society would consent to the sale of the instruments, 
and would gladly receive back their money." 



172 



ORMiSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



Consequently crowds of visitors flocked to Mount 
Adams. Nothing can interfere with astronomical 
routine work more than the presence of visitors. 
But Mitchel kept his pledge, and was always ready 
to show the wonders of the heavens to all who came. 

In order to increase his income and at the same 
time to add to his efforts to awaken an interest in 
astronomical science, Professor Mitchel established 
the " Sidereal Messenger," a periodical devoted to 
astronomical items of interest to both professional 
astronomers and the people. It was undoubtedly 
the first journal of that description ever published 
in America. In the first issue of the second year 
Mitchel speaks of his multifarious duties, begging its 
subscribers not to view his journal too critically. 

During part of this year every afternoon and evening 
in the week, except Monday, were devoted to the recep- 
tion of members of the society and other visitors to the 
institution. Although this regulation has been so modified 
that three evenings in the week are now reserved for 
scientific purposes, I am still liable to constant interruption. 
During the latter part of the year a large portion of my 
time has been absorbed in the erection of a transit circle 
room and improving the grounds. Two months were de- 
voted to military duties connected with an appointment 
from the governor of Ohio, which I could not well decline. 1 
Add to this fact that I am prosecuting a series of observa- 
tions on double stars, clusters, and nebulae, and the gener- 
ous critic may look with an eye less severe upon the 
defects of matter and manner which he has thus far de- 
tected in the conduct of this journal. 

1 When the war opened with Mexico a family of young children 
had sprung up about Professor Mitchel. His observatory had but 
recently been completed, and he did not sympathize with the objects 
of the war. These considerations kept him out of the service. How- 
ever, he accepted the position of adjutant-general on the staff of the 
governor of Ohio, aud was largely interested in the work of prepar- 
ing troops for the field. 



FIRST OBSERVATIONS, 



173 



So it was that Professor Mitchel commenced work, 
giving five nights out of six to the members of the 
Astronomical Society, reserving one night in the 
week for the various labors recommended by his 
astronomical friends abroad. This was essential. 
It was the basis upon which the observatory had 
been built, and it was proper that visitors should 
receive clue attention. The Astronomical Society 
wisely gave up this large proportion of time to stock- 
holders after the first year, cutting it down during 
the second. But to accomplish anything it was 
necessary for the director to remain in the equatorial 
room long after visitors had gone. Without an in- 
defatigable astronomer, science at the Cincinnati 
Observatory was not likely to make rapid strides, 
at least so long as so much was to be done, and no 
one but a woman to help. 

Perhaps if one event in astronomical science that 
has occurred during the present century were to be 
picked out from all the others, as best illustrating 
the ingenuity of the human mind, it would be the 
discovery of the planet Neptune. Irregularities in 
the orbit of Saturn had led astronomers to suspect 
the existence of a planet exterior to Saturn's orbit, 
to whose influence these irregularities might be attrib- 
uted. Indeed, such a planet had been accidentally 
discovered, but not recognized, the elder Herschel 
having reported it to the Royal Society in 1781 as a 
comet. At the instigation of M. Arago, M. Lever- 
rier, a French astronomer, who had shown great 
aptitude for astronomical computations, turned his 
attention to computing the elements of the orbit of a 
supposed planet beyond the orbit of Uranus (then 
the farthest known planet from the Sun), whose 



174 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



place was to become known from its influence on Ura- 
nus. M. Leverrier completed his investigations on 
June 4, 1846. On the 25th of September of the same 
year, M. Galle, director of the Royal Observatory of 
Berlin, received a letter from M. Leverrier, request- 
ing him to examine that region about the given lon- 
gitude, and near the ecliptic ; as it was supposed the 
planet, if it existed, would revolve in an orbit nearly 
coincident with that of the earth. The search was 
made and the planet discovered near the plane of the 
ecliptic, and not two degrees distant from the place 
pointed out by Leverrier. 1 

All this occurred the year after Mitchel had 
mounted his equatorial. He thus describes the first 
sight of the new planet at the Cincinnati Observa- 
tory : — 

On the 28th of October, intelligence first reached me 
of this great discovery (M. Galle's). I had written to 
M. Leverrier for the very particulars communicated to 
Galle, but time for an answer had not elapsed. 

If the planet should be in southern declination, as theory 
indicated, the Cincinnati Observatory would have great 
advantages not only in consequence of the power of its 
telescope, but from its latitude. The coming of evening 
was awaited with no small anxiety to turn the equatorial 
upon the wonderful stranger. Its position was near 
Saturn and within some fifteen or twenty degrees of the 
moon, which was throwing out so powerful a light that it 
was feared that it might interfere with the observation of 
the planet. 

At six o'clock and ten minutes I directed the telescope 
to the region of the heavens occupied by the new planet, 
taking my place at the "finder," while my assistant (Mrs. 
Mitchel) was seated at the principal instrument. 

1 John Couch Adams, an Englishman, arrived at the same results 
about the same time. 



FIRST OBSERVATIONS. 



175 



The planet was described as a star of the eighth mag- 
nitude. On placing my eye to the " finder," four stars of 
this magnitude were seen. The first was brought to the 
centre of the field of view of the equatorial, and, after 
examination by my assistant, was rejected. The third star, 
a little smaller and whiter than the other two, was now 
brought into the field of view, and instantly I heard the 
exclamation from my assistant, " There it is : there 's the 
planet, with a disc round, clear, and beautiful as that of 
Jupiter." 

Probably the first person who saw Neptune in 
America — certainly the first woman — was Mrs. 
Mitchel. 



XXIV. 



OBSERVATORY LIFE. 

Mount Adams was then a beautiful site. It rose 
to a height of four or five hundred feet, and from the 
roof of the observatory the horizon formed a perfect 
circle. At its foot and to the west lay the city of 
Cincinnati, and, flowing in a southwesterly direction, 
the Ohio River, on whose surface steamboats were 
constantly plying back and forth. Directly south 
on the opposite bank was the Newport Barracks, a 
government post ; and when the wind was from 
that direction, strains from the post band at guard 
mounting or dress parade, came floating over to 
Mount Adams. 

Mr. Airy had said that " an observatory under 
proper conduct has always been the headquarters of 
the science of the country in which it stands." The 
Cincinnati Observatory was more than this. Having 
sprung from the people, the people were admitted 
to its interior, and did not seem averse of availing 
themselves of the privilege. Scientists especially 
were always desirous of making a personal inspection. 
Agassiz, Bache, Pierce, Silliman, and many others 
at different times visited Cincinnati, and were enter- 
tained by Professor Mitchel. Whenever notables 
passed through the city they were taken to the ob- 
servatory. They usually preferred to spend a quiet 
afternoon and evening with Professor Mitchel and 
his family, rather than to have their visits attended 



OBSERVATORY LIFE. 



177 



with form or ceremony. It was often a relief for 
them to escape the crush of those who did them 
honor. Frederika Bremer, Jenny Lind, Charlotte 
Cushman, were in turn welcomed in this quiet way. 
Even Tom Thumb, whose only claim to distinction 
was a defect, found refuge from the crowds who jos- 
tled and stared at him, and played at ball with the 
children in the observatory grounds. It may seem 
unkind to bring him into contrast with such intel- 
lectual company, yet of all the famous scientists, 
litterateurs, thinkers, and other eminent men and 
women who visited the observatory, was there one 
who could look farther beyond the limits which 
Providence has set about the human intellect, than 
this dwarf ? 

Soon after the completion of the observatory, Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Mitchel made a visit of a niece 1 of 
Mrs. Mitchel the occasion of an evening fete at 
Mount Adams. It was before the day when such 
affairs were arranged with the care which attends 
modern receptions. Nor could one whose life was 
being devoted to science instead of the accumulation 
of wealth have afforded any great expenditure. 
Everything was improvised. There was no gaslight, 
but hundreds of candles gave the pleasanter, old- 
fashioned illumination. There was no music at hand, 
but Professor Mitchel sent to an old army friend in 
command at Newport Barracks, on the opposite side 
of the river, asking if two or three musicians could 
be spared for an evening. When the "two or three 
musicians " marched into the observatory grounds, it 
was discovered that the kindly commandant had sent 
the entire post band. 

1 Now the wife of Doctor Henry Coppee of Lehigh University. 



178 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



It was a beautiful summer evening ; and hundreds 
of those who had watched the development of the 
institution met on the hilltop, with its superb view 
of surrounding country, and the city lying at their 
feet, which, as the day died, glittered with myriads 
of lights. It was a pleasant opportunity on which to 
congratulate the young astronomer on the success of 
the enterprise which had cost so much pains and 
labor. It was one of the first of those more advanced 
social assemblages that the citizens of Cincinnati 
knew when their town was just emerging from its 
township and entering upon its citizenship. 

The arrangement by which the roof of the obser- 
vatory building rolled to one side came, one day, 
near bringing a very serious accident. Professor 
Mitchel did a great deal of writing, and was sitting 
in the equatorial room, where he was at that time 
accustomed to work. Suddenly a wind-storm came, 
and the Professor, hearing a rumbling noise above 
him, looked up, and saw the roof rolling slowly to 
one side, and, unfortunately, with accumulating ve- 
locity, which threatened to drive it off the building 
into the yard below. The Professor left his papers 
to drift in the wind, and flew to catch his departing 
roof. Luckily he succeeded, and held on till assist- 
ance arrived. It was brought back to its proper 
place, and secured. After that he contrived a method 
for letting it down off the tracks, except when he 
designed to roll it off purposely. 

One morning one of those " ambitious young men" 
whom Mr. Airy had referred to presented himself 
at the observatory and asked to be received as an 
assistant. Professor Mitchel told him that he would 
be happy of his assistance if he would work with- 



OBSERVATORY LIFE. 



179 



out pay. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Henry 
Twitchell was duly enrolled as first and only regular 
assistant to the director. 

Mr. Twitchell had been a sailor. He had visited 
nearly every quarter of the globe, and having a 
mathematical head and a taste for astronomy, made 
up his mind to settle down and become a student. 
He took up his- quarters on the grounds in a little 
house called " The Cottage," swung a hammock, and 
prepared for science and poverty. 

Professor Mitchel was then endeavoring to contrive 
a better method than the one he found in general 
use for meridian observations. 1 His efforts resulted 

1 The old method for noting the time of the passage of a star (its 
right ascension) across the field of view of the transit was by holding 
a chronometer to the ear while the star was passing, first looking at 
the chronometer to note the minute the star entered the field of view, 
and counting the seconds by sound to the moment of passage, and 
making the note in pencil in a book for the purpose. This means 
was neither convenient nor sufficiently accurate for delicate work. 
Mitchel conceived the idea of converting time into space, in order 
that it might be the more easily measured. He constructed a circular 
disc covered with white paper, which was made to revolve uniformly 
by means of clock-work. The pendulum of the astronomical clock 
on swinging to the right was made to cause a wire to dip into mer- 
cury, making an electric circuit by a wire connected with a coil mag- 
net. Over the magnet was a small metal plate, to which was attached 
a light wooden arm about eighteen inches long, at the end of which 
was securely fixed a pencil, its point resting half an inch above the 
paper on the disc. When the circuit was made by the pendulum of 
the clock through the magnet, the plate would be drawn down on the 
magnet, thus bringing down the arm, the point of the pencil making 
a dot on the paper. This occurred every other second. If the sur- 
face of the disc under the pencil revolved an inch between these two 
strokes, two seconds of the clock would be represented by an inch of 
space. Another pencil was connected by similar means with the 
observing-chair. This circuit could be closed by means of an electric 
key fixed to the chair, and the second pencil thus brought down 
would make a point on the disc at the moment of the passage of a 
star. It would fall somewhere between the dots recording one clock- 



180 RMS BY MACKNI GET MITCHEL. 



in the chronograph, now in use in nearly all obser- 
vatories of the old and new world. For the con- 
struction of this machine, upon which he experi- 
mented for years, he had no means. Mr. Twitchell 
was possessed of remarkable mechanical skill. He 
could make anything, from an electric key to an 
observing -chair, and was ready to manufacture or 
compute all day, and observe the greater part of 
the night. So handy was he that he soon acquired 
the sobriquet of " Doctor." He constructed all the 
machinery in part or in whole used in the observa- 
tory. Some of the work was certainly very rough, 
and, compared with the equipment of a modern ob- 
servatory, would present a very sorry appearance ; 
but it sufficed for the time. 

second and the next alternate clock-second. Thus the hour and 
minute being known, the number of seconds is recorded, and the 
fractions of seconds can be determined by measuring the interval 
between the second of the passage of the star and the next dot. This 
method has since been extensively used in observatories in other 
parts of the world, and became known as the American method. An 
arrangement on the same principle as the foregoing, except taking the 
record on a cylinder instead of a disc and by a break instead of a 
make circuit, is now generally used. 

Professor Mitchel's fundnmental principle in this contrivance — 
the appliance by which electricity is made to record the beats of the 
pendulum of a clock — was also claimed by a Mr. John Locke of Cin- 
cinnati. Mitchel brought his experiments to a successful termination 
in the fall of 1848, and exhibited his "automatic clock register" to a 
number of gentlemen of the United States Coast Survey, and United 
States Navy at the Cincinnati Observatory, between the 25th and 29th 
of October of that year. But Mitchel always found it necessary to 
be stirring in the winter, for he had not only an observatory but a 
family to support, and during that winter was making the preliminary 
survey of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. When he returned he 
found a claimant for his invention. This led to a newspaper contro- 
versy, which was the only one Mitchel ever took part in, acquiring suf- 
ficient distaste for such affairs in this one instance, to prevent his ever 
entering upon another. 



OBSERVATORY LIFE. 



181 



In the transit room, as it was called at the obser- 
vatory, Professor Mitchel and his assistant spent the 
greater part of fifteen years. It was a curious-look- 
ing place. In the centre was the transit, under 
which was a pine observing-chair (manufactured by 
Mr. Twitchell), and in one corner the chronograph, 
next to which was the astronomical clock ; and all 
sorts of tools and implements were scattered about. 
Hour after hour during summer nights the sound of 
the clock-beats every two seconds might be heard 
recorded by the point of the pencil as it came down 
on the disc of the chronograph, while a dull whirring 
sound accompanied the revolving cogwheels that 
caused the disc's revolution. 

When eclipses came, or transits of planets across 
the face of the sun, or occultations, or when comets 
swept down, there were busy and exciting times at 
the observatory. Then the little transit would give 
place to the more powerful equatorial. Many a 
night Professor Mitchel would remain in the equa- 
torial room, searching and examining among the 
heavenly bodies until the dawn in the east warned 
him that the sun with its brighter light would soon 
obscure the objects he was watching. 

In one of his undertakings Professor Mitchel was 

o 

doomed to disappointment. He was far ahead of his 
time with the observatory ; he was still farther ahead 
with the "Sidereal Messenger." He conducted it for 
two years, giving in its pages communications from 
the most eminent astronomers of the time ; but Amer- 
ica, particularly the West, was too young to absorb 
this class of matter. The last number appeared in 
July, 1848. 

Its death ushered in a work which was destined to 



182 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



be read for many years, if indeed it does not yet 
become one of those books which outlive the great 
mass of its fellows, and become standard. The year 
that the '* Sidereal Messenger " was abandoned, Pro- 
fessor Mitchel published his " Planetary and Stellar 
Worlds." Another name might have been " Devel- 
opment of Astronomy." It traced this development 
from the earliest record of astronomical observation, 
giving each new light that had been thrown upon 
it as one discovery followed another, explaining the 
motions of the heavenly bodies and uniting them 
under fixed laws, and concluding with the theory 
then but recently announced by Maedler of a cen- 
tral sun, about which the universe is supposed to 
revolve. The book 1 at once became a success, and 
was a source of pride and comfort to its author. 

1 Popular Astronomy appeared in 1860. And a posthumous frag- 
ment, Astronomy of ike Bible, in 1863. 



XXV. 



FORTUNE. 

Honors now began to pour in from other places, 
giving testimony of the thorough appreciation both 
in America and abroad in which Professor Mitchel's 
efforts were held. In 1846 he was offered the Rum- 
ford professorship at Harvard University. In 1851 
he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at the 
University of Albany, Professor Agassiz being ap- 
pointed to the chair of zoology at the same time. 
These appointments were not accepted, but Professor 
Mitchel consented to furnish plans for the Dudley 
Observatory at Albany, which was then in embryo. 
His plans were adopted, and this was the beginning 
of an interest in the enterprise which lasted as long 
as he lived. In 1850 he was elected a member of 
the Royal Astronomical Society of England. The 
degree of Master of Arts at Harvard, and an election 
to the American Philosophical Society at Philadel- 
phia, and other honorary matters, soon followed. 

With these honors came also a more substantial 
blessing. In 1852 the enterprise that had long 
engaged the attention of the citizens of Cincinnati 
and St. Louis, the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, took 
shape, and Professor Mitchel, who had been its sur- 
veyor, was offered the position of Consulting En- 
gineer. The title was to fix his connection with the 
enterprise, the practical work upon which he was 



184 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



expected to be the head and soul. It was only ex- 
pected that he should devote a year or two to this 
work, and he hoped in that time to secure an inde- 
pendence which would enable him to devote himself 
to his astronomical pursuits without further inter- 
ruption. At that day railroads were built mostly 
from subscriptions to the stock by the counties 
through which it was expected to pass. Mitchel 
made a tour of the route, speaking to the farmers 
who were to vote the county subscriptions. When 
the officers of the road found themselves loaded with 
several millions of such securities, they issued bonds 
secured by a first mortgage upon all the property 
of the road, and Professor Mitchel was induced to 
attempt their sale in Europe. 

In February, 1853, he sailed for Liverpool on the 
old Collins line steamer, Atlantic. He had felt so 
keenly the separation from his family during his pre- 
vious trip in 1842, that he resolved to take his wife 
and children with him, expecting that his stay might 
be indefinitely prolonged. 

At London Mitchel called on Mr. George Peabody, 
the eminent banker and philanthropist. Having 
occasion for a family physician, Mr. Peabody recom- 
mended Dr. Henry Holland, afterwards very well 
known in America, and the introduction resulted in 
a very pleasant acquaintance. Dr. Holland had 
travelled over nearly every country in the world. 
He had read Professor Mitch el's writings, and had 
published some scientific notes himself. Mitchel had 
made experiments on Personal Equation, or differ- 
ences in the individual faculty of observation. He 
had measured the difference in time required in two 
different people, on seeing an object, for the brain to 



FORTUNE. 



185 



give the order through the nerves to the muscles to 
record the observation. Dr. Holland had written on 
44 Mental Functions in their Relation to Time," which 
title alone indicates a similarity in the studies of the 
two men. Dr. Holland had also, in 1847, written 
advocating the claims of Mr. Adams in regard to the 
discovery of Neptune ; and Professor Mitchel had 
had a good deal to say on the same subject in his 
44 Sidereal Messenger." During the whole time of 
the visit to London the two men were devoted to 
each other. 

Of course Mitchel lost no time in paying his 
respects to his old friend Mr. Airy at the Royal 
Observatory. A meeting of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science was held that spring 
in London, which Professor Mitchel attended. He 
was invited to dine at Greenwich, and two men in- 
vited with him were of all others those he would 
have the most curiosity to meet. They were M. 
Leverrier and Mr. Adams, the two claimants for the 
discovery of the planet Neptune. 

Now commenced an effort of considerable impor- 
tance to Professor Mitchel. He attacked Mr. Pea- 
body most vigorously to induce him to purchase and 
place all the three million securities he had for sale. 
For three months he remained in London, making 
constant pilgrimages to Mr. Peabody's little office in 
44 the city," never ceasing to expound to that eminent 
banker the claims of the road he represented. Mr. 
Peabody listened patiently to all he had to say, but 
deferred action from day to day. It was an exciting 
period to Mitchel. One day he came back from 44 the 
city " to his hotel in Trafalgar Square and announced 
the welcome news that Mr. Peabody had decided to 



186 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



take the bonds. In a twinkling he had become the 
possessor through his commission of what for those 
da}^s was considered at least a competence. 

There is an especial pleasure in contemplating 
these sudden fortunes, coming to that class of men 
who have no interest in money-making for the mere 
pleasure to be derived from accumulating. Students 
deeply interested in their intellectual work are not 
apt to value money for the power or luxuries it may 
give them, but that they may pursue their studies in 
peace. The only other eminent student remembered 
as having thus suddenly acquired a fortune is the 
archaeologist Doctor Schliernann, who made* half a 
million in blueing. There is as little connection be- 
tween blueing and the bones of Trojans as there is 
between the stars and railway bonds. However, 
Mitchel's fortune came quite legitimately. It was 
the outcome of one of the two professions he had 
regularly adopted, — engineering. It was thoroughly 
appreciated by the man on whom it was bestowed. 
It rendered him more than comfortable. A large 
family of children were growing into that age when 
they should be educated ; he had himself passed 
middle age, and he had long felt a desire for greater 
independence. 

Before returning to America he resolved to take 
a holiday on the continent. His route lay through 
Paris, Brussels, Frankfort, Lucerne, and Pisa, and 
back through Dijon, France, reaching London and 
sailing from Liverpool in the Atlantic, in June. Six 
weeks were thus passed delightfully on the Rhine, in 
the mountains of Switzerland and in Northern Italy. 
It was not a very extended vacation for one who had 
passed such severe struggles, but Professor Mitchel 



FORTUNE. 



187 



was naturally too active a man to care to spend a 
longer time in idleness. 1 

One of . Mitchel' s first acts after finding himself 
thus changed in circumstances was to invite Mr. 
and Mrs. Airy to make a visit to America. To this 
invitation Mr. Airy, in a note on May 3, 1856, re- 
plied : — 

A few days since I received your most kind letter of 
April 16th, conveying to Mrs. Airy and myself the offer 
of a passage ticket to America, and soliciting first our pres- 
ence at the Albany meeting of the American Association, 
and, secondly, our visit to you and other American friends. 
Some time ago I received from Mr. Gould a letter acquaint- 
ing me that this invitation would be sent to us, and wrote 
to him briefly at the time, saying that I foresaw some diffi- 
culty in arranging my plans for such a visit. Since receiv- 

1 On the return trip on the ocean an incident occurred which well 
illustrates his quick mechanical ingenuity. Just out of Liverpool, 
Captain West, who commanded the Atlantic, one of the best sailors 
and the best men that ever crossed the ocean, suddenly discovered 
that his rudder-post was disabled. The rudder did not obey the 
wheel, moving independently with the waves, showing that the rud- 
der-post was twisting, opening and closing fissures as it did so. The 
captain put back to Liverpool and had the rudder-post encircled by 
a number of iron rings, and started again on the voyage. When 
well out to sea it was discovered that the remedy was ineffectual. 
The twisting recommenced, and the fissures became larger, till the 
post bid fair to be twisted into two pieces. Captain West stood in 
the stern with a party of the ship's officers anxiously watching the 
fissures opening and closing. Some of the passengers gathered 
about, among whom stood Mitchel. Presently he said, " Captain, if 
you will send for some wedges and drive them into those fissures 
when they open, you will stop that twisting, and your rudder will 
become effective." The captain looked with astonishment at the 
small figure of the audacious passenger who had dared to offer ad- 
vice to a commander aboard his own ship. Then he looked again at 
his rudder-post. " Go and get some wedges," he ordered, in no gentle 
tones, to his subordinates. The wedges were brought, and driven in 
as Mitchel had suggested. The ship steamed on to New York, and 
the rudder worked to a charm. 



188 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



ing your letter, Mrs. Airy and myself have carefully con- 
sidered the matter, and it is with great regret — quite as 
much to Mrs. Airy (who is very anxious to see Americans 
in America) as to myself — that we find ourselves compelled 
to decline this most cordial invitation. It so happens that 
an absence from home for so long a time as a journey to 
America requires would in this summer very much disturb 
our family arrangements. I can scarcely make this intel- 
ligible, but every one knows that with a family rising 
towards the active age, sons and daughters, there are diffi- 
culties in leaving home for so long a time as a transatlantic 
expedition would require. We must therefore, for the 
present, give up the great pleasure of visiting you. 

Another decade has passed in the life we are study- 
ing. Ten years before, Mitchel had started without 
a dollar of his own to build the Cincinnati Observa- 
tory. That effort had been accomplished. He was 
now known as the founder of the first American ob- 
servatory. He stood first as writer and lecturer on 
the science of astronomy, and now he possessed a 
competence. When he returned to his work at the 
observatory, after severing his connection 1 with the 
Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, there was no man in 
America more to be envied than Professor Mitchel. 

1 Mitchel's connection with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Com- 
pany did not cease till the road was built. The following year he 
was sent over again on a similar errand, but the railroad panic of 
1855 coming on in America while he was gone, he folded up his maps 
and his papers and returned without making an effort. 



XXVI. 



LAST DAYS AT CINCINNATI. 

During the decade following the establishment 
of the observatory a great manufacturing city was 
growing up around the base of the hill on which it 
was located. The smoke from hundreds of factories 
rolled over the environs of the city, and it began to 
appear evident that a mistake had been made as to 
the choosing of a site. Meanwhile the early interest 
which Mitchel had excited in the enterprise had 
largely died out ; the Astronomical Society was very 
large, and it was found almost impossible to get a 
meeting. By the terms of the deed, by which Mr. 
Nicholas Longworth had given the property, it would 
revert to him or his heirs in case it was not used for 
the purpose specified. It had become quite valuable. 
Professor Mitchel endeavored on different occasions 
to effect some arrangement with Mr. Longworth by 
which the observatory could be moved, without los- 
ing the property, but never succeeded. 

The last summer that Professor Mitchel spent 
with his family at Mount Adams was that of 1856. 
It was, perhaps, the pleasantest of all the summers 
ever spent there. It certainly was the most free from 
care. He had what means he required, his children 
were all about him, and every member of his family 
enjoyed a blessing which was soon after forever with- 
drawn from Mrs. Mitchel — good health. 



190 OEMS BY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



That fall his London friend, Dr. Holland, then 
Sir Henry Holland, visited America, and Professor 
Mitcliel had the pleasure of entertaining him at Cin- 
cinnati. The main part of the time they spent to- 
gether in discussing problems and contrivances, about 
matters in which they were mutually interested. 

Sir Henry Holland afterwards published his recol- 
lections, in which, in some pages on observatories, 
this visit was especially remembered : — 

There is no place where the grandeur and wild ambi- 
tions of the world are so thoroughly rebuked and dwarfed 
into littleness as in an astronomical observatory. 

On my first visit to Cincinnati, in 1856, I resided at 
the observatory on Mount Adams, with the family of my 
friend, Professor Mitchel, whose reputation as an observer 
and as a popular writer on astronomy is well established. 
The spot is one magnificent in position, almost overhanging 
the great city so recently created, and overlooking for a 
distance of more than twenty miles the beautiful valley of 
the Ohio. . . . The nights passed here under a sky of in- 
tense clearness afforded me the finest views of the nebulas 
and double stars I have ever enjoyed — views before which 
all earthly landscape become insignificant. On one of these 
nights we were strangely interrupted by three fires break- 
ing out in the city underneath, spreading rapidly as they 
do in newly built American towns, and veiling with a cloud 
of earthly smoke the wonders of the heaven above. 

The next summer (1857) an event occurred which 
changed the prime motive of Mitchel's acts. Mrs. 
Mitchel was stricken with paralysis. She partly re- 
covered from this first shock, but constantly lived in 
dread of another. 

Professor Mitchel, from the moment of her afflic- 
tion, made her comfort his first object. All scien- 
tific work became secondary to her wishes. When- 



LAST DAYS AT CINCINNATI. 



191 



ever it became apparent that she needed change, no 
work was engrossing enough to prevent his taking 
her where it seemed best. Indeed, for the four years 
of her life after the commencement of her illness the 
husband did little but minister to the invalid wife. 

In the spring of 1858 commenced the war, memo- 
rable in scientific circles, between the trustees and 
the council of the Dudley Observatory at Albany. 
At the end of the controversy the trustees found 
themselves with a fully equipped observatory and no 
director. The interest which had attached to the 
enterprise had suffered greatly from the feeling en- 
gendered by the two opposing factions, and it looked 
as though the observatory must remain ineffective 
for a long time to come. 

Professor Mitchel had taken an interest in the 
institution from its inception, and it was natural that 
the trustees should look to him to fill the vacant 
directorship, and, possibly, restore harmony among 
the friends of the observatory. While spending the 
summer at the Yellow Springs, in Ohio, where he 
was devoting himself to his invalid wife, an invita- 
tion to take charge of the institution at Albany 
reached him. 

The invitation was neither declined nor accepted 
at the time. On returning to the city in the fall he 
occupied himself in an effort to secure a new site for 
the Cincinnati Observatory, but without success. In 
a letter to his friend, Mr. Ripley, he thus speaks of 
his disappointment : — ■ 

My hopes with reference to the observatory here have 
been again disappointed by the change which, within a few 
days, has taken place in the views of Mr. Longworth. A 
short time since he and I agreed on a plan for the dispo- 



192 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



sition of the four acres now occupied, which appeared en- 
tirely satisfactory, but when called on to execute the plan 
in legal form he declines absolutely, and for the present we 
are compelled to remain where we are, in the midst of 
smoke, or lose the ground we now occupy. Here, again, I 
am compelled to wait, and this seems to be my destiny in 
all things. But I do not complain and will not. If God 
will only give me to feel that his own hand guides, I am 
willing to follow. 

It now became evident that there was no hope 
of making any arrangement for the removal of the 
observatory without giving up the ground on which 
it stood, and procuring a new location, which, in view 
of the rise in the value of surrounding real estate, 
would cost considerable money if purchased. Pro- 
fessor Mitchel's means had been invested largely 
in railroad property, which had depreciated and had 
temporarily ceased to give him any income. His 
children were grown, but had not yet become inde- 
pendent, and at no time in his life did he have need 
of a larger income. Mrs. Mitchel required his whole 
attention, thus keeping him, in a measure, from the 
lecture field, and, indeed, he was in no way situ- 
ated to undertake the erection of a new observatory 
building. 

The trustees of the Dudley Observatory had offered 
him a house and some salary. At Albany he would 
not be so far from points to which he could make 
short trips for the purpose of lecturing, and thus 
avoid long absence from home. Added to all this, 
Mrs. Mitchel was very anxious to be again on the 
banks of the Hudson River, where she had passed 
her girlhood, and her wish, especially in her sad con- 
dition, was considered first by her husband. 



LAST DAYS AT CINCINNATI. 



193 



These considerations at last induced Professor 
Mitchel to accept the directorship of the Dudley- 
Observatory. He wrote the trustees as follows: — 

In case there is a fair prospect of a permanent, quiet, 
and peaceable possession of the observatory, with a fair 
chance of a reasonable income to sustain the institution, 
such as has been already stated, I shall undoubtedly accept 
your invitation, and remove my family to Albany. 

In the spring of 1860 he left Cincinnati. He did 
not resign the directorship of the observatory there. 
He left Mr. Twitchell in charge, thus becoming 
director of two institutions. 



XXVII. 



FAREWELL LECTURES. 

We have followed Professor Mitchel through the 
work of building the Cincinnati Observatory, in 
watching, through fifteen years, the motions of the 
stars, and in pleading the cause of science in the 
lecture field. His work in the field where his orator- 
ical powers came into play was, perhaps, the most 
important of his life. Before closing this account of 
his scientific career it may not be amiss to make 
brief mention of the last great course of lectures he 
ever delivered, in the Academy of Music, in New 
York. An effort had been started to erect an obser- 
vatory in Central Park, and in order to create a fund 
and awaken an interest Professor Mitchel was called 
from Cincinnati, which was then his home, to give 
this course of lectures. He never delivered a course 
that attracted so much attention. He had been for 
many years speaking of the stars, and was at the 
summit of his familiarity with the subject and of his 
oratorical powers. 

The effort was a brilliant success. From the open- 
ing to the close the audiences were large and enthu- 
siastic. The lectures proved the event of that winter. 

When the audience had assembled to listen to 
the last lecture the Academy was filled. A culti- 
vated and appreciative audience occupied the parquet 
and circles almost to the ceiling;. On the sta^e the 



FAREWELL LECTURES. 



195 



lecturer was supported by many of the most eminent 
citizens of New York. Not the wealth and fashion, 
but the cultivated and intellectual gathered by hun- 
dreds to listen to one whose renown had been grow- 
ing until, at this last effort, it had risen to the high- 
est point. 

As Professor Mitchel sat there on the stage, sur- 
rounded by hosts of friends and admirers, waiting for 
the vast audience to be seated, his thoughts might 
well haTe turned to that moment at Boston when 
he had stood up, fourteen years before, in despera- 
tion, to address the thin knot of people who had 
ventured out to hear him. Then he had been sup- 
ported by but one kindly, familiar face in the audi- 
ence. But it was enough : it was the face of his wife. 
The day had passed when she could come into an 
assembly to listen to him. His thoughts may not 
have rested on that first Boston audience, but there 
is little doubt that they did rest on the invalid at 
home, whom a messenger sent by a friend had ap- 
prised of her husband's splendid reception. 

Professor Loomis arose and offered a series of reso- 
lutions. They were an encomium upon Professor 
Mitchel. Professor Davies, who had been a professor 
at West Point when the lecturer was a cadet, followed, 
paying another tribute. Then, after the resolutions 
were adopted, Governor Luther Bradish, with all the 
grace of bearing and speech for which he was noted, 
advanced and introduced the lecturer. As Professor 
Mitchel walked to the stand and stood for a moment 
surveying the audience before beginning, it seemed 
that one so small could scarcely serve to enkindle 
that enthusiasm expected of him upon so abstruse a 
subject. 



196 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



The opening and the end of his lecture, which was 
taken down phonographic-ally, may be given verba- 
tim ; but no pen can give the magnetic power that 
accompanied his words. 

I know not how to answer in fitting terms the greeting 
of this night. The honorable and flattering allusion which 
has been made to me by my old preceptor and personal 
friend I cannot respond to. His feelings of kindness and 
affection for an old pupil have carried him far beyond the 
just limits which should have restrained his remarks. I 
appreciate his motives, but aspire not to the high eminence 
upon which in the kindness of his heart he has sought to 
place me. 

I have been called hither by the invitation of a number 
of personal friends and strangers to speak on behalf of 
science. I came humbly at the call, and was told that I 
was to address a multitude in this vast building ; but had I 
known the responsibility which has been imposed upon me, 
I am confident I could not have mustered the courage ne- 
cessary to have passed the thousand miles of interval which 
separates your city from my home. I am happy, however, 
that I am here. Notwithstanding stormy and tempestuous 
weather, I have been greeted night after night by your 
kind faces, until I have learned to feel that in some sense 
at least you are all my personal friends. I have further 
evidence of this friendship in the fact that you are here 
again to-night at the termination of a long and perhaps 
tedious course of lectures, and I thank you one and all 
from the very depths of my heart for this manifestation of 
your good will. 

If I have contributed in the slightest degree in the ad- 
vancement of that great movement which has been auspi- 
ciously inaugurated to-night, I shall esteem it the proudest 
effort of my life ; and if some biographical sketch shall 
ever mark to posterity the fact that I ever lived, upon the 
page that contains the record I would point my children 
to that paragraph which says, " Your father was in the 
outset connected with this grand enterprise," an enterprise 



FAREWELL LECTURES. 



197 



which I trust is to eventuate in the noblest and proudest 
structure that has ever been reared upon the surface of the 
globe to the science of the stars. 

Permit me as a stranger to say a word or two with 
refereuce to this movement. 

When I stood, some fourteen years ago. in my own little 
city before a multitude like the one which I now have the 
honor of addressing, and there for the first time lilted my 
voice in behalf of a noble structure, whose chief ornament 
should be one of the grandest instruments that science and 
skill have ever produced. I ventured to make an appeal of 
this kind: — The Okl World looks with comparative con- 
tempt upon the profound ignorance and inertness of the 
New. They point to us and say : Yonder is activity and 
strength and power and vigor, but it is all put forth to grasp 
the almighty dollar. And when I stood before that great 
assemblage and said. Let us rescue our country from the 
stain resting upon it ; let us show to the crowned heads of 
Europe that free, independent, republican America can take 
the lead even in science itself, the response to my appeal 
afforded the most gratifying evidence that in the end this 
grand object would be accomplished. What is the result ? 
A short time after the commencement of the undertaking 
— and at that day there was scarcely an observatory in our 
country — I visited Europe. I went to Munich, the great 
centre for the construction of these mighty instruments, 
and there I stood in the presence of the successors of old 
Frauenhofer and Utzsehneider. I said to them, "Your 
predecessors sold to the Emperor of Russia the great 
equatorial refractor. And why ? Simply because they 
desired that their skill and handiwork, displayed in this 
masterpiece, should fall into the hands of some profound 
astronomer, and thus give them a world-wide reputation. 
Sell to me." I said. " poor, simple republican that I am, 
and yet one of the nobles of our land, this mighty refrac- 
tor, equal to almost any other in the world, at cost, in like 
manner, and I will guarantee that in the next ten years 
you will get more orders from the United States than from 
ail the other counties of the world together." Thev would 



198 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



not make the sale on these terms, and yet during that time 
they have received more orders from this country than 
from all others, and we have built more observatories and 
erected more magnificent instruments than all the world 
besides. Now our scientific men stand on the same high 
platform with those of Europe. They hail us as brothers, 
in this grand and noble crusade against the stars. We are 
moving on together, a solid phalanx ; the watch-towers are 
rising all over the earth, and the grand cry is " Onward !" 
It is echoed from observatory to observatory. The sen- 
tinel is everywhere posted, and do you not mean to post 
one on your rocky heights ? I know you do. 1 

Professor Mitch el then delivered a lecture on the 
unfinished problems of the universe ; at the close he 
said : — 

Now, my friends, I must close this long course of lec- 
tures. We have passed from planet to planet, from sun to 
sun, from system to system. We have reached beyond the 
limits of this mighty stellar cluster with which we are allied. 
We have found other island universes, sweeping through 
space. The grand unfinished problem still remains. 
Whence, whence this magnificent architecture, whose 
architraves rise in splendor before us in every direction ? 
Is it all the work of chance? Who shall reveal to us the 
true cosmogony of the universe by which we are sur- 
rounded? Is it the work of an omnipotent architect? If 
so, who is this august being ? Go with me to-night, in 
imagination, and stand with old Paul, the great apostle, 
upon Mars Hill, and there look around you as he did. 
Here rises that magnificent building, the Parthenon, sacred 
to Minerva, the goddess of Wisdom. There towers her 
colossal statue, rising in its majesty above the city of which 
she was the guardian, the first object to catch the rays of 
the rising, the last to be kissed by the rays of the setting 
sun. There are the temples of all the gods ; and there 

1 The exciting events of 1861 to 1865, occurring very soon after, 
were doubtless the cause why the work was not then accomplished. 
Since then it lias never been revived. 



FAREWELL LECTURES. 



199 



are the shrines of every divinity. And yet I tell you 
these gods and these divinities, though created under the 
inspiring fire of poetic fancy and Greek imagination, never 
reared this stupendous structure by which we are sur- 
rounded. The Olympic Jove never built these heavens. 
The wisdom of Minerva never organized these magnificent 
systems. I say with Saint Paul : " Oh, Athenians ! in all 
things I find you too superstitious ; for in passing your 
streets I find an altar inscribed i To the Unknown God* — 
Him whom ye ignorantly worship. And this is the God 
I declare unto you — the God that made heaven and earth, 
who dwells not in temples made with hands." 

No, here is the temple of our Divinity. Around us and 
above us rise sun and system, cluster and universe. And 
I doubt not that in every region of this vast empire of 
God, hymns of praise and anthems of glory are rising and 
reverberating from sun to sun, and from system to system, 
heard by omnipotence alone across immensity and through 
eternity. 



XXVIII. 



THE RED PLANET. 

Professor Mitchel had designed the Dudley 
Observatory after he had acquired the practical ex- 
perience obtained in the one at Cincinnati. The 
observatory proper was separated from the dwelling 
intended for its director, which was a wonderful 
improvement on the one he had first built, where 
observatory and dwelling were together: though in 
that case he was hampered by want of means, and 
did not feel justified in incurring the expense of 
erecting two buildings. The Dudley Observatory 
was well equipped. It contained an equatorial, one 
of the first constructed in this country, and a very 
handsome meridian circle presented by Mr. Thomas 
W. Olcott, of Albany, one of the trustees. 

From the site at Albany, one may look down on 
the Hudson River and the hills on the opposite shore, 
furnishing a very pretty view : and during the sum- 
mer of 1860 a happy family spent many a pleasant 
afternoon and evening on the broad veranda built 
across the whole east face of the dwelling. Professor 
Mitchel had been married so young that he had lived 
to see his children grow up about him, and was not 
yet an old man. His stepson had volunteered for 
the Mexican War. Professor Mitchel secured him a 
lieutenancy in the regular army before the close of 
the war, but exposure in Mexico brought on con- 



THE RED PLANET. 



201 



sumption, and he died in 1850. His own children 
consisted of three sons and three daughters. His 
daughters were all with him then, unmarried ; his 
oldest son was in business in New York, another had 
just returned from college, a third he was preparing 
for West Point. During the summer of 1860 he 
had them a great deal with him ; indeed, at times 
they were all under the same roof -tree together. 
But for the one melancholy matter of Mrs. Mitch el's 
uncertainty as to future attacks of her disease, the 
family circle might have been regarded as near the 
perfection of happiness as can be attained on earth. 

August Sonntag, a young astronomer of great 
promise, and who had been with Dr. Kane's expedi- 
tion to the North Pole in 1853-5, was at Albany that 
summer, or the early part of it, as assistant in the 
observator}^. Professor Mitchel deemed himself for- 
tunate in having such a man with him. Sonntag was 
not only a rising astronomer, but an extremely pleas- 
ant and accomplished man, and soon became a great 
favorite with Professor Mitchel and his family. But 
Dr. Hayes was organizing his expedition of 1860 to 
the Arctic regions, and succeeded in persuading 
Sonntag to go with him as astronomer. 1 He left 
Albany regretted and regretting. 

1 While in winter-quarters on the coast of Greenland, Sonntag 
started on an expedition to Whale Island in a dog sledge, accom- 
panied by Hans the Esquimaux, well known to readers of Arctic lore. 
On this expedition Sonntag met his death. Dr. Hayes describes the 
incident in his Open Polar Sea : — 

" Sonntag, growing a little chilled, sprang off the sledge and ran 
ahead of the dogs to warm himself with the exercise. The tangling 
of a trace obliging Hans to halt the team for a few minutes, he fell 
some distance behind, and was hurrying on to catch up, when he sud- 
denly observed Sonntag sinking. He had come upon the thin ice 
covering a recently open tide-crack, and probably not observing his 



202 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



Professor Mitchel cast about for another assistant. 
A young man, Mr. Gr. W. Hough, 1 had been doing 

footing, he stepped upon it unawares. Hans hastened to his rescue 
and aided him out of the water, and then turned back for the shelter 
which they had recently abandoned. A light wind was blowing at 
the time from the northeast, and this according to Hans caused Sonn- 
tag to seek the hut without stopping to change his wet clothing. At 
first he ran beside the sledge and thus guarded against danger; but 
after a while he rode, and when they halted at Sorfalik, Hans discov- 
ered that his companion was stiff and speechless. Assisting him into 
the hut with all possible dispatch, Hans stated that he removed the 
wet and frozen clothing and placed Sonntag in the sleeping bag. He 
next gave him some brandy which he found in a flask on the sledge, 
and having tightly closed the hut he lighted the alcohol lamp, for the 
double purpose of elevating the temperature and making some coffee: 
but all his efforts were unavailing, and after remaining for nearly a 
day unconscious, Sonntag died. He did not speak after reaching the 
hut, and left no message of any kind." 

More than a year after the sailing of the expedition, and after 
Sonntag's death had been announced, Professor Mitchel received 
from him a last farewell which seemed to him, he said, like a voice 
from the dead. 

Danish Settlement, Upernavik, 
Baffin's Bay, August 15, 1860. 
My Dear Sir : — I take the last and only opportunity which offers 
before we enter the ice to write you a few lines to report to you our 
progress and prospects, and to wish you once more " good-b}'." We 
made an unusual quick passage from Boston to Discovery Island, 
which we reached by the first of August, but afterwards were detained 
by a calm for five days before entering the port of Proven. There we 
expected to obtain dogs and furs, but could not get all we wanted on 
account of the great mortality of the dogs last winter and the conse- 
quent failure of the reindeer hunt. Our ship had to be prepared for 
entering the ice also, and we stayed about five days before sailing 
to Upernavik, where we arrived two days ago. Here we got the 
remainder of what is wanting mostly through the kindness of the 
officials, who supply us from their own private stock with great will- 
ingness. 

Dr. Hayes and myself get along admirably, as I knew befoi'ehand 
we should. But my duties here on board are so varied that 1 have not 
had a leisure moment for scientific work, and not even enough to 

1 Now director Dearborn Observatory, Chicago. 



THE RED PLANET. 



203 



some work with Mr. Twitchell in Cincinnati; and 
Professor Mitchel offered him the position. It was 
accepted, and Mr. Hough at once came to Albany 
and entered upon his duties. 

The period of Professor Mitchel's entry into the 
field of astronomical science had been marked by the 
discovery of the planet Neptune, the last of the great 
discoveries of the existence and the motions of the 
heavenly bodies destined to occur during his lifetime. 
The end of his career was the beginning of a new 
era in astronomy. For years the astronomer had 
been plodding on, accomplishing little save utiliz- 
ing past discoveries, and rendering more accurate 
the means for making and recording observations. 

reduce the pendulum experiments which Professor Bond had the kind- 
ness to make for me in Cambridge. While at sea we had mostly- 
such stormy weather that it was not possible to do anything but 
attend to the ship's duties ; and since we are on the coast I have to 
act as pilot when sailing, which requires my presence constantly on 
deck, and in port I have to act as trader and interpreter. Besides, 
I have charge of the provisions, which consumes much of my time. 
I doubt if before the beginning of November I shall find leisure to 
commence work which is more congenial to me ; but short-handed as 
we are, everybody must put his shoulder to the wheel until we are 
comfortably prepared for the winter. And I am glad to say that 
there is the right spirit and excellent harmony among the few mem- 
bers of our small party. 

And now, my dear Professor, I must say the last " good-by." I 
never can thank you enough for all your kindness and for the in- 
terest which you have taken in my welfare. The prospect of being 
again with yon after my return encourages me more than anything 
else. In all that I do it will be always my object to deserve your 
good opinion. 

Please remember me kindly to your family, and give Mrs. Mitchel 
my most sincere wishes for the improvement of her health. Good- 
by. Believe me ever, 

Your most sincere and grateful friend, 

August Sonntag. 



204 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Frauenhofer's lines were well known in Professor 
Mitch el's time, but they were uninterpreted hiero- 
glyphics. At the close of his career in science it 
was discovered that u a glowing gas gives out rays 
of the same refrangibility which it absorbs when 
light passes through it." Frauenhofer's lines were 
seen to be intercepters of light — inscriptions giving 
the physical constitution of the heavenly bodies. 
The key had been found. The spectroscope became 
an ally of the telescope. But by this time a great 
change had come in the life of the man who brought 
the first great refractor to America. 

Every evening a star blazed large and red in the 
east. It was the planet Mars. For fifteen years, 
since Professor Mitchel had tested the power of his 
new telescope at Cincinnati upon it, Mars and the 
earth had been circling about the sun, till again 
Mars was in conjunction and at its nearest point 
to the earth. One evening Mitchel stood on the 
veranda in the midst of a happy party, looking out 
contemplatively on the God of War. Doubtless 
memories of 1845, when he was charmed at the ad- 
mirable performance of the instrument he had been 
at so much pains to get, when his hair was not yet 
flecked with gray, when his children were " wee 
things toddlinV' came up before him sweet but mel- 
ancholy. At any rate, with a touch of sadness in 
his voice, he said, " I wonder where we will all be 
when he comes round again to another conjunction 
in fifteen years." 



PAET II. WAR. 



I. 

CHANGE. 

It is the summer of 1861. The government is in 
peril, and those whom it has trained to military ser- 
vice are springing forward to its defence. The time 
has come for Mitchel to render back to Ca?sar the 
things which he had received from Caesar. With the 
training given him thirty years before by the people 
of the United States he had gone forth to achieve 
success. It had secured him enviable rank among 
scientists and engineers ; it had given him fortune. 
What honorable man could sit quietly at home when 
the source from which these blessings had been de- 
rived was suddenly menaced by a great danger ? 

From this point, the narrative, for those who hold 
the heavens in reverence, and to whom war appears 
at the further extremity in the catalogue of sciences, 
must be drawn on a far narrower scale. Among the 
stars, man reaches his sublimest conceptions ; and 
while war may call out much that is noble, it cannot 
be denied that in a state of warfare he descends 
towards barbarism. For some, the completeness of 
Professor Mitchel's life will seem to be marred by 
this descent from the quiet grandeur of astronomical 
investigation to a field so widely different. This 



206 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



effect cannot be averted. The year he spent in the 
army constitutes the last — in many respects the 
most eventful — of the chapters of his life. And it 
will appear, as the short story of his military service 
is developed, that he was about to take the rank in 
War that he had held in Science, when a special in- 
fluence interposed, and he was soon after cat off by 
death. Whether he could have maintained such a 
position is a matter of conjecture. 

There is another feature discouraging to the biog- 
rapher. Heretofore it has been possible to give the 
record without a word of criticism upon the acts or 
intentions of any individual. To refrain from such 
in this portion of the work, is without the bounds 
of practicability. General D. C. Buell, in reviewing 
the battle of Shiloh, has said : " I was advised by 
friends in whose judgment I have great confidence to 
write an impersonal account of the battle. The idea 
was perfectly in harmony with my disposition, but a 
moment's reflection showed me that it was impracti- 
cable. It would ignore the characteristics which 
have made the battle of Shiloh the most famous, and 
to both sides the most interesting, of the war. The 
whole theme is full of personality." This is true : 
and what is true of one battle pertains to the whole 
war. The history of armies is the history of their 
generals. In such matters the personality of men 
enters into events. It is not from the voluminous 
reports of engagements that we get the most enter- 
taining features of a war, but from those indications, 
unimportant in themselves, which go to show the 
personality of the commanders ; for there is no one 
element on which success or failure depends so largely 
as on this. 



CHANGE. 



207 



Nevertheless, the narrative will be confined so far 
as possible to General Mitchel's own part in it, and 
no more of the unpleasant features of that period so 
full of intrigue and mismanagement will be given, 
than are absolutely necessary to the story. 

For Professor Mitchel there now commenced a 
conflict between two duties — the one to his country, 
the other to his family. Mrs. Mitchel was in an ex- 
tremely critical condition, fearing each day another 
paralytic stroke that would undoubtedly prove fatal. 
She had at best but a brief period to spend in the 
society of her husband and her children. Upon her 
husband she was dependent more than upon all the 
rest for encouragement and sympathy. Could she 
bear the separation ? She made the decision herself. 
That period called out many instances of woman's 
fortitude, but none more marked than that of this 
■wife, expecting the summons of death at any mo- 
ment, sending her husband out to encounter the 
dangers of war. 

It was due to the efforts of Secretary Chase, who 
had known of Mitchel's work in Ohio, and more es- 
pecially to Senator Ira Harris, who had known him 
in Albany, that he was offered a commission. In 
August, 1861, the President appointed him a briga- 
dier-general of volunteers. This was a month after 
the battle of Bull Run, and a great many general 
officers had been appointed who would outrank him. 
While the Southern leaders, Davis, Lee, the two John- 
stons, were chosen from those who had been with 
him at West Point, the Northern leaders were taken 
from those who had followed from ten to fifteen 
years after. It is a noticeable fact that no important 
independent command in the Union armies was given 



208 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



to any man of Mitchel's time. Mitchel entered the 
service as a brigadier-general, 1 and was assigned the 
command of a single brigade. Nor did he accept 
this subordinate rank unwillingly. He seemed per- 
fectly willing to do what he could in a command 
comparatively unimportant. 

On the 18 th of August, 1861, Mitchel bade adieu 
to his wife for a few days, while he should be absent 
in Washington, promising to return before taking a 
final leave. They were spared the pain of the last 
parting. They never met again. The day after her 
husband's departure, Mrs. Mitchel received a third 
paralytic stroke, and died before he could reach her. 

And here we come to the turning-point in the life 
of one whose whole career had been inspired by his 
love for this woman. From the days of his wooing 
at West Point and Cornwall, through his early trials 
at Cincinnati, his struggles to establish the observa- 
tory, his work in the lecture field, his effort to gain a 
competency for her and their children, there had been 
one guiding influence, and that influence was Louisa 
Clark's. Not one woman in ten thousand could 
have guided and inspired that career as she had 
guided and inspired it. 

And only the man who came back to a desolate 
household thoroughly recognized all this. Never had 
he needed her counsel and sympathy as during this 
period of military service upon which he was about 
to enter. The field was one in which the most adroit 
management, patience, and policy were required to 
enable any man to pursue his way to a point where 
he could be useful as a leader. Mitchel needed a 

1 One historian says that Mitchel was the most distinguished man 
who returned to the army at the opening of the war. 



CHANGE. 209 

guiding influence to control his restless energy and 
make it effective. Then, too, there was a simplicity 
of character, a too great faith in the purity of his 
intentions, and a childlike confidence in the purity 
of the intentions of others. These defects had been 
largely supplied by his wife. Her influence was now 
cut off, not only depriving him of the controlling 
power to which he had been used, but destroying 
that powerful incentive which had existed in his love 
for her, — his desire to win her approbation. Her 
absence is as plain in the narrative that follows, as 
her presence has been in all that precedes. 

Now came the breaking up of home — the parting 
of a family sundered for the first time, and never to 
be reunited on earth. General Mitch el took his 
daughters to New York — one of them had been re- 
cently married ; — the remains of the wife and mother 
were placed in Greenwood Cemetery; then taking 
with him a son 1 who was to serve on his staff, he left 
again for the front. 

Of course his active directorship of the two obser- 
vatories of which he was still the nominal head 
ceased. Mr. Twitchell continued in charge at Cin- 
cinnati, and Mr. Hough at Albany. 

1 The editor of these papers. 



II. 

CINCINNATI. 

It will be necessary to push rapidly forward over 
the ground traversed by General Mitchel daring the 
fall of 1801 and winter of 1862. But in order to 
trace his movements it will be well to glance at the 
situation of the national forces at the commencement 
of the autumn. General McClellan 1 was reorganiz- 
ing the Army of the Potomac, after the first battle 
of Bull Run, and a great deal of solicitude was felt 
at Washington for the safety of the city. General 
Rosecrans was in command of a small army in West- 
ern Virginia, which General McClellan had left upon 
his appointment to a higher command. General 
Rosecrans's authority extended over the State of 
Ohio, which lay adjacent to and in rear of his field of 
operations. General Robert Anderson was at Louis- 
ville, commanding what was then called the Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland, embracing the State of 
Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee. General Fre- 
mont was in Missouri ; while U. S. Grant, an obscure 

1 " General," said Mitchel to McClellan, upon reporting for duty, 
"you are a much younger man than I; but it is essential that you 
have the undivided and unqualified support of all your generals. I 
promise you mine most heartily." 

Mitchel was disappointed at the want of cordiality with which his 
proffer was received. It would not be proper to assign a reason for 
McClellan's want of appreciation for this frank statement, when the 
reason is not known. The fact is stated merely as an incident. 



CINCINNATI. 211 

colonel of volunteers, about that time advanced to be 
brigadier-general, and who by no means reflected the 
state and dignity of his chief, was slowly working his 
way down the Mississippi River towards Cairo. 

General Mitchel found a gloomy state of things 
in Washington. The Confederate army was defiant 
but a few miles south of the capital ; and Mitchel 
had only to ride across the Potomac, and with a 
small glass he could see their sentinels pacing back 
and forth on their works. .No one knew what day 
they might push forward. The leader of the Union 
army had been but a short time in command, and 
was untried. There was no confidence either in the 
government or the army, or among the people. 

General Mitchel's first letter after leaving home 
is very melancholy. The unfortunate condition of 
affairs at Washington, acting with his recent grief, 
naturally threw over him a cloud of gloom. He had 
been visiting at the house of Secretary Chase, where, 
in the company of Mr. Chase's family, he had en- 
deavored for an hour to throw off his sorrow. 

I sometimes forget the scenes which have so violently 
sundered us in the excitement of conversation and prepa- 
ration ; but when even the most deeply absorbed, the 
memory of joys and sorrows comes over me, and almost 
arrests the very words I am about to utter. I can only 
go for consolation to the great Source and Fountain of all 
happiness, and in the thought that the spirit of our beloved 
one is ever near me, in the still hours of the night as well 
as in the rough energy of the day, go forward under God's 
guidance in the discharge of every duty. 

The command to which Mitchel was assigned was 
Franklin's brigade, that officer being promoted to the 
command of a division. Mitchel went across the 



212 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 

river and reported to Franklin. He had as yet no 
equipments, but guided by Colonel Jackson, of Al- 
bany, rode through the camps of his command. He 
returned to the city the same evening, and found that 
something had occurred which changed entirely the 
field in which he was destined to act. 

Upon returning to his hotel he was surprised to 
find an order from General Scott directing him to 
proceed at once to Cincinnati and assume command 
of a camp of rendezvous near the city, and confer 
with the Governor of Ohio. He was informed that 
he would find his instructions at the headquarters of 
the department. The order being not very intelligi- 
ble, General Mitchel called on those whom he sup- 
posed would be most likely to explain it, including 
General Scott and the President. All that could be 
learned was that citizens of Cincinnati, alarmed at 
the Confederate general Zollicoffer's advance from 
East Tennessee into Kentucky, and, as it was sup- 
posed, upon Cincinnati, which had been left by the 
department commander, General Rosecrans, without 
a military head, or troops, or arms, requested that an 
officer be sent them (General Mitchel preferred), to 
assume command and organize a defence. 

There seemed nothing to do but obey the order ; 
and as the request came with great urgency, General 
Mitchel, leaving the proper authorities to explain 
his hurried departure to General Franklin, took the 
train for Cincinnati. 

In these peaceful times it is difficult to appreciate 
the state of affairs during the autumn of 1861. The 
nation was at the beginning of a great war for which 
it was entirely unprepared. The extended border 



CINCINNATI. 



213 



between North and South was without protection 
against any incursions which the rebels might see fit 
to undertake. The staff of the army was inadequate 
to the great burden so suddenly thrown upon it. The 
Treasury was unable to respond to a tithe of the 
requisitions that were pouring in from all parts of the 
country. The calls for arms, equipments, clothing, 
food, money, and especially for troops, were a per- 
fect babel. And when these were forthcoming there 
were no means by which they could be properly dis- 
tributed. 

These were the conditions under which General 
Mitchel entered Cincinnati, in the early part of Sep- 
tember. He found a chaos. From the moment of 
his arrival all responsibility, except such as belonged 
to the governor of the State, was transferred to him. 
He was expected to throw a force into Kentucky to 
oppose Zollicoffer, but there was no force to throw 
forward. He was expected to build fortifications, but 
there was no money to pay for them. Besides these 
difficulties there was one which appeared trifling to 
Governor Dennison, but which General Mitchel, bet- 
ter understanding army systems, foresaw at once 
would be an important obstacle. 

While in the army, General Mitchel wrote fre- 
quently to his children, and to two intimate friends, 
Mr. Thomas W. Olcott of Albany, and Mr. George 
S. Coe of New York. His acquaintance with Mr. 
Coe (formerly a Cincinnatian) dated from the days 
when Mitchel was building the Cincinnati Observa- 
tory; while Mr. Olcott was one of the trustees and 
virtually manager of the affairs of the Dudley Obser- 
vatory. Both these men had great confidence in their 
friend, who had but recently stepped to the front at 



214 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



the President's call. Both sought all through the 
trying period of his army service to soften the bur- 
den by holding out hope that patience would bring 
order, and that ample opportunity would follow for 
all good men to work to advantage. 

In quoting from the letters General Mitchel wrote 
his children no name will be given ; and all extracts 
quoted without mention to whom the letters were 
addressed were to some one of his family. 

TO MR. OLCOTT. 

Cincinnati, 8ih September, 1861. 

On reaching Cincinnati I telegraphed the governor, who 
promptly came here on Tuesday of last week. I then 
learned that there was much alarm among the citizens, 
that no preparation had been made to defend the city, that 
a sudden attack was not impossible, that neither men nor 
guns were here, and there was no military head. I had 
been sent for because the citizens of Cincinnati and of 
Ohio desired that the defences of the city, and the camp of 
instruction, and the military of the State should be placed 
under my command. 

I frankly told the governor that all this was simply im- 
possible ; that Ohio, as a military district, belonged to the 
department under charge of General Rosecrans ; that the 
defences of Cincinnati were to be made on the opposite 
side of the Ohio, in a military department in charge of 
General Anderson ; and that, as to Camp Dennison, it would 
not suit me to become a drill-master of troops to be turned 
over to the command of other men. The governor could 
not conceive that General Anderson could make the small- 
est objection to the plan ; neither could the Assistant Sec- 
retary of War. 1 " But," said I, " governor, it is easy to 
settle the matter: let us go to General Anderson and lay 
the case before him." This was done; and, as I anticipated, 
the general promptly replied that he could not for one 

1 The difficulty had been foreseen at Washington. 



CINCINNATI. 



215 



moment entertain the proposition. Of course I remained 
silent and permitted the governor to do the talking. 

We returned, and continued our conference. I learned 
from him that the recruiting of volunteers was moving 
very slowly, and could not furnish the men required in sea- 
son to meet the demands of the country. I then presented 
a plan to avoid the disgrace of resorting to drafting, and 
said we could try it here in the city, and prove promptly 
what our reliance must be. I found an independent regi- 
ment of about one thousand men, composed of young men 
of good family, and already uniformed and drilled to some 
extent. I laid my plan before the colonel; he approved it; 
and on Wednesday evening I met all the officers. They 
gave the plan their hearty approbation. On Thursday I 
met the entire regiment at a large hall, and after the mili- 
tary had been seated it was crowded with citizens. I ad- 
dressed them for thirty minutes, explained my plan, and 
when called upon to signify their approbation by rising, 
they all sprang to their feet, and the entire crowd rose, 
and there was a wild scene. The next evening I addressed 
the employers ; and they in like manner rose and pledged 
their support. 

I have started Camp Dennison, where we now have about 
three thousand men, all in the rough, without equipment 
and without arms. I find a clashing between the general 
and state government in almost every department, but 
a perfect readiness on the part of Governor Dennison 
promptly to remove every obstacle. 

At his invitation I go in the morning to Columbus to 
confer with him and the heads of the different depart- 
ments. I have as yet received no instructions from Wash- 
ington or elsewhere, and my position is anything but pleas- 
ant. I telegraphed General McClellan on yesterday to 
permit me to return and head my brigade, in case a battle 
were imminent. As yet I have no reply. I am willing to 
come back in case I can do more here for our country than 
on the Potomac, though just now this is the saddest place 
on earth to me. My friends have received me with every 
kindness, but every face and every object reminds me of 
happier days now gone forever. 



216 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



I quitted my brigade with great reluctance, and before 
doing so went to General Scott, to General McClellan, and 
to Mr. Lincoln. They all said to me it was my duty to 
go ; but McClellan said to me the last thing, " So soon as 
you can be spared in Ohio I want you here." 

The condition of Kentucky is becoming better every 
day. General Anderson is now in Frankfort, and I hope 
for a favorable action on the part of the legislature. But 
these slow States are not to be trusted. Their devotion to 
the Union always is accompanied and qualified by condi- 
tions, and in my opinion a large army on the borders of 
the Ohio would operate favorably on the loyalty of Ken- 
tucky. In case I can receive authority I will try to recruit 
such an army in person. 

There was a dead lock at Cincinnati. It was a 
bad omen. General Mitchel, upon his very entry 
into the service, was called upon to protect a city 
from an enemy said to be marching upon it, and on 
account of the peculiar arrangement in the geograph- 
ical lines of two adjacent departments, he was unable 
to cross the river and build the necessary works. 

There was but one thing to do : to represent the 
case at Washington and let the authorities there un- 
tie the knot. General Mitchel was but an officer of 
the army, and was not qualified to represent the in- 
terests of the State of Ohio at the capital. Finding 
it impossible to act, he was ready to go back to his 
brigade on the Potomac. But Governor Dennison 
was not so minded. He requested Mitchel to act 
with him, and it was determined that the two should 
go to Washington to represent the matter to the 
government. General Mitchel started, the governor 
promising to follow him in a few days. 



CINCINNATI. 



217 



Washington, September 13, 1861. 

I reached here on last evening direct from Cincinnati. 
I came at the request of the governor, who expects to ar- 
rive to-night, our object being to place me in a position to 
accomplish something in Ohio, or to relieve me from duty- 
there and restore me to the command of my brigade. I 
was directed to report for instructions to the headquarters 
of the Department of the Ohio. This I did for seven con- 
secutive days, and, as no instructions came, on Monday last 
I went to Columbus, and after an interview with Governor 
Dennison it was decided I should return here. 

I have applied for leave to remain here and head my 
brigade in the expected battle, and have some reason to 
hope my wish will be granted. Then I see no objection 
to be ordered to Ohio, provided the military interests of 
the State are placed under my control, and I am offered a 
body of troops to lead to the field proportioned to the ser- 
vice I may perform. 

Washington, September 15. 
The governor of Ohio was expected in this city on last 
evening, but failed to come in. I presume he will be here 
this morning, and then it will be very soon decided what is 
to be my future position. 

Washington, September 17, 1861. 

Last evening on returning to the hotel I found your let- 
ter, the first I had received from you, but not the first you 
had written. I had spent the evening until very late with 
Governor Dennison, General Scott, and the Assistant Sec- 
retary of War, in talking over and arranging the features 
of my command in Ohio. It is now decided to place the 
entire State and a small portion of Kentucky under my con- 
trol, charging me with all the defences of Cincinnati, and 
promising me in a short time, if I am successful, the com- 
mand of a major-general in the field. 

I dined on yesterday with General Scott, and found him 
as young and genial as ever. While at table a beautiful 
plate of fruit, with flowers and a charming little note, from 
some fair lady, were presented to the General. We were 



218 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



all anxious to act as his secretary, and read and answer the 
note ; but he drew himself up with great dignity and re- 
plied that he had no need of any assistance of that kind. 
His spirits are remarkably good, and but for his gout and 
a slight paralysis in the back he would not look over fifty 
years of age. We had many jokes and much amusing 
chat, carefully excluding all business, which is his habit at 
dinner. 

There is a powerful effort to detain me here, — so I am 
mysteriously informed by an old West Point friend, and to 
promote me to a higher command here, — but I am per- 
suaded it will not succeed. God guides and controls me, 
and wherever I am called by duty I am ready to go. It 
matters little now where I am. General Scott and others 
think I ought to go to Ohio, and it is not for me to decline 
a position in which I may do good service. 

At the conference between the Assistant Secretary 
of War, General Scott, and Governor Dennison, the 
new Department of the Ohio was created, embracing 
Ohio and so much of Kentucky as lay directly south 
of Cincinnati within a radius of fifteen miles. The 
department was placed under the command of Gen- 
eral Mitch el. 

It was the best that could be done at the time, but 
it was a mere makeshift. The new department 
should either have embraced Central Kentucky and 
East Tennessee, or have been added to the Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland. It was unfortunate for 
General Mitchel to be called upon to take charge of 
such a department. He wished for duty in the field, 
and there was little hope that he could throw troops 
into the department south of Cincinnati, to be headed 
by other men, and then go and supersede them. He 
could have been ordered to the command of his bri- 
gade on the Potomac had he insisted, but encouraged 



CINCINNATI. 



219 



by the promises of the powers at Washington, he 
yielded to their persuasions and accepted the Ohio 
field. Furnished with a check for special exigencies, 
by that admirable tape-cutter, Colonel Thomas A. 
Scott (for it was known that the quartermaster at 
Cincinnati was without funds), Mitchel took a train 
one Sunday evening and sped again towards the 
Headquarters of his Department. 



III. 



A LIMITED DEPARTMENT. 

Up to this time there was really no Confederate 
force in the whole of Kentucky which would have 
excited the apprehension of any one, bad the real 
state of Confederate affairs been known on the Ohio 
River. Zollicoffer had a beggarly force in East 
Tennessee, and the Confederate general Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston, who had been placed in command of 
the whole Southwest, in order to mask his weakness, 
on September 17th threw forward some 4,000 men, 
under General Hardee, into Bowling Green. At no 
time during the autumn and winter of 1861-2 did 
this force under Hardee exceed 14,000 men ; and with 
the force under Zollicoffer in East Tennessee consti- 
tuted all the available Confederate force in the South- 
west before Louisville and Cincinnati. 

How the work progressed in the new department 
is shown in the following letters. 

Cincinnati, 22c? September, 1861. 
General Anderson is calling for troops with the energy 
of despair. He says Buckner is marching on Louisville 
with 7,000 men, with twenty-one fieldpieces, and he has 
nothing with which to oppose him. We have sent from 
here a regiment of infantry and a battery of artillery, and 
must send more immediately. Indiana has sent him three 
regiments, and promises more. I have ordered 10,000 
men to be concentrated in Camp Dennison immediately, 
and shall do my utmost to place the entire department 



A LIMITED DEPARTMENT. 221 



in a state of military preparation to meet any emergency. 
I go this (Sunday) morning by special train to Camp 
Dennison, to return by half-past nine o'clock. I then go 
into Kentucky to examine the approaches, with a view to 
commence our fortifications to-morrow. 

Cincinnati, 24th September, 1861. 

If I had 20,000 troops now in Ohio every man would 
be wanted in Washington, Western Virginia, and in Ken- 
tucky. I have urgent calls to send four regiments to 
McClellan, as many more to Anderson, and, on yesterday, 
a most powerful appeal from the legislature of Kentucky 
to send to Frankfort 5,000 troops with field artillery. As 
usual, Kentucky is found in the same predicament in which 
the United States was at the beginning of the rebellion : 
no preparation, no arms, no troops, no artillery, while the 
rebels are prepared with everything. 

I never have worked under so tremendous a pressure as 
now crowds upon me. My room is thronged from morn- 
ing till night. At four P. M. to-day I broke away and went 
up to Camp Dennison, returning in forty minutes on an 
extra locomotive. 

I have directed all regiments in the State which are 
more than half full to rendezvous at Camp Dennison this 
week. I hope to assemble there some ten thousand men 
in about ten days. 

Cincinnati, 26*A September, 1861. 
I received your letter last evening, a little bright star in 
the great cloud of letters and telegrams which were handed 
me on my return from Camp Dennison. I was up last 
night till eleven, and again at work this morning at three 
o'clock, yet I am not in any degree harassed or embar- 
rassed. I keep ahead of all my business, and now, at 
6.30 A. M., my day's business is done. Thus by system 
and thorough determination to do everything now, I have 
no enemy in the rear to annoy me. 

The supplies for the troops at Camp Dick Robin- 
son were hauled over the Kentucky Central Railroad 



222 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



through a country hostile to the United States. The 
authorities of the road were at last notified by cit- 
izens that if any more supplies were sent over it, its 
perishable property would be destroyed. 

General Mitchel had no authority to act in Ken- 
tucky, but he did not think it advisable that the 
troops at Camp Dick Robinson should be without 
supplies. He therefore took the responsibility upon 
himself, seized the road, and held it in the name of 
the United States. Of the complications attending 
this seizure and other matters, he speaks in a semi- 
official letter to Governor Dennison. 

Cincinnati, 30th September, 1861. 

Dear Governor : — ... I asked General Anderson 
by telegraph to permit me to take and hold the road. 
This he declined. I requested General McCook to visit 
General Anderson and obtain from him his plan. McCook 
returned, and on yesterday we spent three hours together. 
General Anderson believes in moral suasion, and deeply 
regrets my works on the Kentucky Hills, opposite this city. 

I can get nothing from him by telegraph, or by letter. 
He only desires that all Ohio and Indiana troops shall be 
sent to him at Louisville. I see by the "papers" this 
morning that Colonel Steadman passed through Frankfort 
en route for Louisville. I presume this is a mistake, but 
it may be that General Anderson has ordered him to that 
city. I did hope that General Anderson would agree to 
permit the Ohio troops to concentrate near Nicholasville, to 
move, when strong enough, against the force under Zolli- 
coffer, to threaten Knoxville and the Tennessee Railroad, 
and to secure the Cumberland Gap and effectually bar it 
against the enemy. 

I learn from reliable authority that from London, Ken- 
tucky, where we have an advanced guard, it is but two 
days' march over fair roads to points beyond the Tennes- 
see line in rear of Cumberland Gap, and from there only 
about thirty miles to the railroad. 



A LIMITED DEPARTMENT. 



223 



Were it possible to seize that road and hold it only long 
enough to burn two long bridges at and near Knoxville, it 
would be of vast importance. Governor Johnston, Mr. 
Maynard, and Green Adams were with me last night. 
They all know the country in that region, and assure me 
the people are with us almost unanimously, and that 10,000 
troops entering Tennessee in rear of Cumberland Gap 
would electrify Tennessee and North Carolina. All this 
is very well, but in war, prudence and military preparation 
must go hand in hand with vigor and rapidity. Yet I be- 
lieve much is to be done in the direction of Cumberland 
Gap. 

The want of system and a plan of operations is very em- 
barrassing ; and I am now confident that the Department 
of the Cumberland and that of the Ohio must be placed 
under one military head, and that there is not a moment to 
be lost. The falling back of the rebels from before Wash- 
ington speaks volumes, and, I fear, a dash upon Kentucky. 

Cincinnati, September 8th. 
I hope, in all, this week to have in the field an army of 
10,000 Ohio troops, which, added to the force in Camp 
Dick Robinson, will place us in a position to drive Zolli- 
coffer out through the Cumberland Gap, or to capture him 
with Breckenridge. Then, by barring this entrance to 
Kentucky with a strong fort well garrisoned, and com- 
manding the various mountain passes near Cumberland 
Gap, we can turn our entire strength to the aid of Gen- 
eral Anderson, and by combining our troops be strong 
enough to assume the offensive and drive the enemy back 
towards Nashville, and possibly strike a decisive blow in 
Tennessee. 

Cincinnati, 5th October, 1861. 
We are soon to have a radical change in the military in 
the West. Soon after reaching here I became satisfied 
that we never could accomplish anything with so many dif- 
ferent commanders, — General Anderson, General Thomas, 
General Rosecrans, and myself, — all pulling indifferent 
directions. On this day week a person sent out by the 



224 O RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



Secretary of War presented me his letter, and I found him 
empowered to examine the condition of all the depart- 
ments. I had sent General McCook from here to General 
Anderson, in Kentucky, to try and bring about some con- 
cert of action. I induced the government agent to await 
his return from Louisville, and last Sunday morning we 
spent four hours together. 

I advised the government to send here some officer of 
high rank to command the entire region, and to control 
the States of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
This I am inclined to believe will be done, and I hear 
Major-General Halleck is named. This is rumor, but no 
doubt it will become history very soon. 

A grand opportunity now presents itself to strike an 
important blow by driving Zollicoffer back into Tennessee, 
and seizing, if possible, the Tennessee Railroad near Knox- 
ville. I shall telegraph to-day for leave to start at once, 
and expect to be refused. 

General MitcheFs administrative ability, his quick- 
ness of perception and decision, enabled him to trans- 
act an immense amount of detail work. These mili- 
tary departments, at the period of organization, tried 
severely every general who commanded one of them. 
After the troops were organized into corps d'armSe, 
divisions, and brigades, all business was transacted 
through a regular channel ; but before that, every 
captain of a company, hospital steward, or wagon- 
master, felt at liberty to address the general direct 
for any required article, be it a hundred rounds of 
ammunition or a bottle of medicine. The throng of 
citizens requiring attention was countless. Mitchel 
was expected to chat familiarly with all. He did 
not do this. He was often very " short ;" but he did 
not shut himself up behind a long line of works in 
the shape of anterooms defended by orderlies, but 
saw every one who called at his office during certain 



A LIMITED DEPARTMENT. 



225 



hours of the day, and the rest of the time was free 
to visitors in his room at the Burnet House. Often 
on returning to his hotel he would find his apartment 
so full that, standing around against the wall, his 
visitors covered it completely. He would commence 
with the first of these, transact his business and dis- 
miss him, and so on till the room was cleared. He 
frequently cleared one of these throngs in half an 
hour. 



IV. 

A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 

A MONTH passed while General Mitchel continued 
to administer the affairs of his department. Early 
in October General Anderson, at his own request, 
was relieved from duty in the Department of the 
Cumberland, and General W. T. Sherman, the next 
officer in rank, assumed command in his stead. Gen- 
eral Mitchel continued to organize and throw forward 
troops until he had concentrated quite a respectable 
little army at Camp Dick Robinson. These troops 
passed from under the orders of General Mitchel to 
those of General Sherman. They were placed di- 
rectly under the command of General George H. 
Thomas and General William Nelson. They con- 
tinned to look to General Mitchel for supplies, but 
their orders came from an entirely different source. 

Zollicoffer still continued to show a bold front 
with his army, whose boldness was its principal effi- 
ciency. While Mitchel was chafing under a desire 
to push forward into East Tennessee, he was sur- 
prised one morning by the presence of distinguished 
visitors. 

Cincinnati, October 11, 1861. 
On yesterday morning, as I was passing into breakfast 
about 6.30 a. m. (after having finished my morning's work, 
for I rise at five), I met the Secretary of War and the 
Adjutant-General of the army. My surprise was great. 
They informed me that they had ordered an extra train to 



A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 



227 



visit Camp Dennison to inspect my regiments preparing to 
enter Kentucky. I replied that not a regiment remained 
in camp. All were in Kentucky. An explanation soon 
followed, with a report of my movements for the past two 
weeks ; and I am now ordered to take command of an ex- 
pedition to seize and hold the Cumberland Ford and Cum- 
berland Gap, and to threaten and destroy, if possible, the 
Tennessee Railroad. I am organizing my little army of 
ten or twelve thousand men with all speed, and hope to 
take the field in person in a few days. 

I have already ordered forward some of the Ohio regi- 
ments beyond Camp Dick Robinson. I am making up my 
baggage trains, and shall send forward from one to two 
hundred horses, harness, and their wagons each day, till all 
is furnished. 

I had the pleasure of receiving some very flattering com- 
pliments from Secretary Cameron and General Thomas for 
the energy put forth already ; and they even went so far 
as to say that our efforts here in the past few weeks had 
effected a revolution in this region. 

I am now assigned to a special service. With God's as- 
sistance the duty shall be performed, and in case success 
crowns my efforts I shall be in a position to exert a power 
in behalf of our country which I trust will work a revolu- 
tion in the management of affairs. 

Thus it was that the Secretary of War and the Ad- 
jutant-General of the army arranged the following 
order, which was issued and signed by the latter in 
Cincinnati, and through which it was intended to re- 
lieve East Tennessee, and attempt the cutting of one 
of the most important lines of communication which 
bound the Confederacy together. 

Cincinnati, October 20, 1861. 

Beig.-Gen. O. M. Mitchel. 

General : By direction of the Secretary of War you 
are hereby assigned to duty in the Department of the 
Cumberland, and will at once repair to Camp Dick Robin- 



228 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



son, and there prepare the troops for an onward move- 
ment, the object being to take possession of Cumberland 
Ford and Cumberland Gap, and ultimately seize the rail- 
road, and to attack and drive the rebels from that region of 
country. 

You will report your instructions to Brigadier-General 
Sherman, in command of this department, and be governed 
by such further orders as he may give. 

I have the honor to be very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. 

The railroad which it was proposed to cut con- 
nected Knoxville (running between ranges of moun- 
tains through Lynchburg, Va.) with Richmond. 
From Knoxville it passed south to Cleveland and 
Chattanooga. The region about Knoxville was al- 
most entirely loyal to the Union. The distance from 
the advance of the Union pickets at London, Ky., 
to Cumberland Gap was thirty-five or forty miles. 
From the Gap to the railroad it was thirty miles 
further. The country after reaching the Gap being 
mountainous would be difficult to advance over, un- 
less defended by a trifling force, or unless the ob- 
ject of the invading force should be secured by some 
brilliant stroke. But if the region about Knoxville 
were taken, it would sever an important Confederate 
railroad communication ; it would close up an im- 
portant avenue for the advance of Confederate forces 
into Kentucky ; and would make a Union stronghold 
of about the only really " Union " territory in the 
Southwest. 

After giving his instructions, Secretary Cameron 
proceeded on his way to St. Louis, where he proposed 
to visit the headquarters of the Department of 
Missouri. 



A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 



229 



General Mitchel reported his orders to General 
Sherman, concluding with the words, " I await your 
orders." No orders came. The next day he tele- 
graphed General Sherman that he proposed to move 
with eleven regiments of infantry and three batteries 
of artillery. But for some unexplained reason he did 
not take the field as anticipated. There was evidently 
friction somewhere. Then there was an appointment 
between the two generals to meet at Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, and confer. General Mitchel kept his appoint- 
ment, but General Sherman did not. He was daily 
expecting Secretary Cameron, who was returning 
from St. Louis and intended to visit Louisville on 
the way. Secretary Cameron arrived at Louisville, 
met General Sherman, and came on to Cincinnati. 
General Sherman then wrote General Mitchel that 
he had given orders to the troops at Camp Dick Rob- 
inson and at Olympian Springs to move, and re- 
quested him to furnish a reserve at Paris. 

This ended the preparations for the proposed ex- 
pedition. Secretary Cameron came on to Cincinnati, 
and General Mitchel reported to him that it was im- 
possible to carry out his order. Secretary Cameron 
replied that he knew what had occurred, and that as 
General Sherman felt about it there would be no 
hope of carrying out the expedition with his co- 
operation. " Remain where you are," he said. 44 I 
will return to Washington, and in a very few days 
this whole matter will be righted." 

General Sherman wrote General Mitchel a friendly 
letter explaining his failure to meet him at Lexing- 
ton, which occurred from the fact that he was looking 
for the Secretary of War. He pointed out the diffi- 
culties in the way of the advance ordered, which 



230 ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



mainly grew out of sickness and poor equipment of 
the troops at Camp Dick Robinson. 

General Thomas wrote General Mitchel that he 
would make all preparations, but stated that when he 
(Mitchel) arrived be would ask to be relieved, as he 
saw no reason why the Secretary of War should 
supersede him in his command. 

General Nelson wrote a characteristic letter of 
complaint to General Mitchel for sending orders to 
the troops under his command, which Mitchel had 
given, not knowing of Nelson's presence. It was 
written with all the intensity of expression for which 
that officer was distinguished. 

General Mitchel disagreed with General Sherman 
as to the feasibility of the expedition. He had 
equipped the troops at Camp Dick Robinson, and was 
thoroughly acquainted with their condition. He be- 
lieved in the practicability of the occupation of East 
Tennessee ; but under the circumstances there was 
nothing for him to do but wait the action of the 
Secretary of War. For two weeks he commanded a 
department without troops, during which he made 
constant endeavor to get some word from Washing- 
ton. The only reply he ever received to his frequent 
appeals was the following : — 

War Department, 
Adjutant-General's Office, 
Washington, October 26, 1861. 

Special Order No. 288. 

5. Brigadier-General O. M. Mitchel, United States 
forces, is relieved from duty in the Department of the 
Cumberland, and will return to his proper command, the 
Department of the Ohio. 



By order, 

L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. 



A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 



231 



Meanwhile Mitchel had forwarded his resignation. 

Cincinnati, October 29. 
On Monday night the mail carried forward my resigna- 
tion as the only thiug I could do to preserve my self- 
respect. I had solemnly promised my troops to be with 
them and head them in the fight. I had been appoiuted 
to their command by the Secretary of War, the highest 
military authority. I had assumed command by issuing 
an order and directing what should be done previous to my 
taking the field ; I had assembled around me a staff for 
the campaign ; I had even my baggage wagons and my 
drivers, when, lo ! my column is divided and its fragments 
given to other persons, my inferiors in rank. One portion 
advances towards the Gap and meets the enemy, while I 
am compelled to remain here. I appealed to the Secre- 
tary of War, who gave me the command. I waited from 
day to day in vain for an answer. The governor of the 
State made a strong appeal, private friends did the same, 
and yet up to this time no response has been heard from 
Washington. To remain longer inactive were to submit to 
degradation which would destroy my own self-respect and 
that of my fellow-officers, and so on Sunday night I sent 
forward a letter to Mr. Cameron and one to Mr. Lincoln, 
tendering my resignation and assiguing the reasons. It now 
remains to see what will be done. I am satisfied, after the 
most mature deliberation, that my course is the only wise 
one, and in the end will be productive of good. 

General Mitchel's resignation was very much re- 
gretted by the friends' with whom he was in corre- 
spondence, and who were looking forward to his 
career in the army to be of signal service to the 
country. His friend Mr. Olcott wrote him that he 
feared he had acted hastily and unwisely, and that 
his action would only tend to embarrass the govern- 
ment. To this General Mitchel replied : — 



232 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



TO MR. OLCOTT. 

Cincinnati, November 1, 1861. 

I have your letter of the 30th ult., and give you my 
most hearty thanks for the deep interest you are pleased 
to manifest in what concerns me personally. There is no 
necessity for any appeal to my better nature to induce me 
to do right. I have no disposition to do wrong, and am 
certain nothing could induce me to take any step to em- 
barrass or obstruct in the smallest degree the workings of 
the government. In case President Lincoln and Secretary 
Cameron desire my services, all they have to do is to de- 
cline to accept my resignation, and then place me in a 
position where I can stand in my former attitude of enjoy- 
ing the confidence of the administration. 

I am now again sending other regiments to Kentucky. 
They will go thoroughly equipped and prepared for the 
field, as no regiments have yet been prepared elsewhere. 
Everything comes under my own eye, and a team of four 
horses, even with its wagou and harness, I have tested by 
loading it fully with nearly double what it is required to 
move, and then driving it down and up a steep rough hill. 

Everything shall be done that can be done to ensure 
efficiency in the regiments I send to the field. Since my 
new system of recruiting was introduced here, in thirty 
days ten thousand men have volunteered for three years, 
or during the war. All works well, all commend my zeal 
and energy. But this does no good. I stand in a posi- 
tion of the deepest mortification. All who meet me ask, 
" Why are you not in Kentucky ? " 

Now, I never have placed myself in a position where I 
was compelled to explain. I am now daily and hourly 
obliged to do so, and it is very humiliating, and yet up to 
this time I have never lost my temper. I have no tempta- 
tion to lose it. 1 shall make no trouble of any kind, and 
am ready to do and to suffer anything for the only object 
now dear to me on earth, the rescue of our unhappy coun- 
try from threatened destruction. 

Trust me, I will do nothing rashly or wrong. If the 



A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 



233 



President accepts my resignation, it will be because this is 
best for the government. I did not write it in anger or in 
petulance. 

While the action of the government, in giving the 
order or in its withdrawal, may have been excusable 
on the ground that the intention was for the best, 
the leaving General Mitchel in his embarrassing 
position without communicating with him, and then 
only by sending him the brief order to remain within 
the limits of his own department, was, to say the 
least, unnecessary ; and was certainly very trying to 
one who saw the troops he had organized moving 
forward, while he remained behind. The whole 
affair was a revelation to Mitchel of that condition 
of affairs which existed at Washington from the 
commencement of the war, till they were righted in 
the spring of 1864, when the armies of the United 
States found a competent head in General Grant. It 
was to Mitchel a bitter discovery. Afterwards, when 
actively employed, he at times temporarily lost sight 
of the lesson he had learned, but as the same condi- 
tions continued to exist he was repeatedly reminded 
of them. He made several resolves afterwards to 
leave the service, but was always dissuaded. 

The entrance of a general, with special instruc- 
tions from the President, into the department of an- 
other commander was tried in other instances during 
the war, and was not found to work well. It seemed 
the only method at Mr. Lincoln's disposal to secure 
the accomplishment of certain special work which 
he desired ; and when it failed, there was no other at 
hand. General Mitchel himself appreciated the dif- 
ficulties in the way, but did not regard them insur- 
mountable. He had, on October 5th, recommended 



234 RMS BY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



the union of the two departments under some officer 
to be sent out by the President. He was perfectly 
willing to serve under General Sherman, and would 
have obeyed that general's orders implicitly. But, 
looking at it to-day retrospectively, the whole plan 
of General Mitchel's entrance into General Sher- 
man's department under special instructions from 
Washington, not given through General Sherman, 
was a mistake. 

Yet, had the way been clear to the front, the sequel 
shows that, if successful, the expedition would have 
been of great benefit to the national cause. A Con- 
federate historian 1 gives the force under Zollicoffer 
at the time, which would have been opposed to Gen- 
eral Mitchel's army. 

The whole force in Zollicoffer's district of East Ten- 
nessee consisted, nominally, of ten regiments of infantry, 
seventeen companies of cavalry, and a six-gun battery of 
six-pounders. But only five regiments, the artillery, and 
twelve companies of cavalry were in condition to move 
into Kentucky — less than four thousand men. There was 
not a quartermaster or engineer in the command, and the 
arms and equipments were very poor. 

General Mitchel's force would have been more 
effective and would have outnumbered this force. 
The enemy were better off in cavalry, as General 
Mitchel had none, but in the matter of artillery he 
would have had a great advantage. General Mitchel's 
methods, as developed later on, will show that had he 
been permitted to perform the work, he would proba- 
bly have moved with that rapidity and daring which 
is so often worth more to a cause than numbers. 

The column which Mitchel had concentrated was 
1 William Preston Johnston. 



A PROPOSED MOVEMENT. 235 



divided, and its work during the autumn and winter 
of 1861 and 1862 consisted mainly in small skir- 
mishes with the enemy, who in the mean time had 
grown somewhat stronger. The battle of Mill Spring 
was fought in January; but none of these movements 
resulted in an occupation of East Tennessee. All 
through the year 1862 the Confederate general E. 
K. Smith held possession there, to the discomfiture of 
East Tennesseeans, and much to President Lincoln's 
regret. In August of the same year Bragg found 
it a convenient route through which to march into 
Kentucky. Then, in the spring of 1863 President 
Lincoln sent General Burnside to Cincinnati to carry 
out his original order to General Mitchel through 
Mr. Cameron. But by that time the successes of 
Bragg in the West and Lee in the East had aroused 
all the strength there was* in the Confederacy, and 
the complexion of civil and military affairs had 
changed. 



V. 



KENTUCKY. 

General Mitchel was ordered to Washington, 
where he met the President and Secretary of War. 
All he had desired in offering his resignation was to 
cut a knot that he could not untie. He withdrew 
his resignation at once at the prospect of active duty, 
and was ordered to the West. The suggestion he 
had made a month previous was carried out : the 
departments of the Ohio and the Cumberland were 
united, and Brigadier-Greneral Don Carlos Buell was 
appointed to the command. 

Mitchel was assigned to duty in the new depart- 
ment. He reported to Buell by letter from Cincin- 
nati, and was ordered to Louisville. There he was 
placed in command of a camp of rendezvous, while 
the troops that were to compose the third division 
of the army of the Ohio were assembling at Eliza- 
bethtown. Mitchel was to be placed at the head of 
this division. Early in December he was directed to 
proceed to Elizabethtown and assume command, and 
a few days afterwards to march his division to a 
point where a stream called Bacon Creek is crossed 
by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. There he 
was to take position some ten miles in rear of 
McCook's division, then holding the advance at 
Mu n ford v ill e. 

The morning of breaking camp at Elizabethtown 
he wrote : — 



KENTUCKY. 



237 



Reveille is just sounding from forty drums and fifes and 
from twenty bugles all over an area two miles square. It 
is just coming daylight, but the moon makes it bright as 
day even at this early hour. The smoke of the camp-fires 
spreads a gauzy veil over the white tents sleeping in the 
moonlight, illumined here and there by an early fire. We 
move again at an early hour for the banks of the Green 
River. We seem to have reached the " sunny South." 
The weather is charming, clear and bright, day and night. 

The same evening he encamped his division at 
Bacon Creek as directed, where he was destined to 
remain through the winter. 

Mitchel has in one of his letters left an introduc- 
tion to his division on Christmas morning, which, 
though written more than twenty-five years ago, has 
all the freshness of recent composition. 

December 25, 1861. 

Merry Christmas ! — God bless you all and make you 
happy this day as the beginning of a long and bright future ! 
On last evening I published an order suspending all drills 
to-day that our soldiers might recall the happy days that are 
past and remember their loved ones at home. And now, 
before reveille, in the bright moonlight of a beautiful morn- 
ing, all the bands are out, and shouts and cheers resound 
throughout the entire camp. The bugles are answering 
each other from the hilltops, and the rousing log camp-fires 
are blazing in every company parade ground. 

Let me tell you of our camp. The camp of my head- 
quarters is pitched on a hill overlooking the encampment 
of the 17th brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Du- 
mont. On the right of my own tent is that of the Adju- 
tant-General and his clerks, and of the telegraph operator. 
To the left are placed the tents of the aids, surgeon-gen- 
eral, and quartermaster-general. To the rear the tents of 
the escort, orderlies, cook, and servants. 

In front, in a very large field, half a mile square, is 
spread out the encampmeut of the 17th brigade, four regi- 
ments and a battery of artillery. 



238 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



To the left and half a mile removed are the camps of 
the 9th brigade, four regiments, under acting Brigadier- 
General Sill. Across Bacon Creek and on the opposite 
heights are visible in the distance the encampments of the 
8th brigade, four regiments, under acting Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Turchin. 

To control this body of troops, 1 and to know exactly 
what is going on in every tent, I have adopted the follow- 
ing organization. I have detailed daily — 

A commandant-of-the-camp — a brigadier-general; an 
ofRcer-in-charge for each brigade, who is a field-officer. 

An officer-of-the-day, for each regiment. 

An officer-of-the-guard, for each guard. 

The commandant of the camp controls four officers in 
charge. Each of these controls four officers of the day, 
and each officer of the day controls an officer of the guard, 
two sergeants, two corporals, and eighty privates. 

The officers of the day visit the tents, see to the police of 
the camp, visit and inspect the guard, go the grand rounds 
at night, and keep their regiments in perfect order. 

The officers in charge have an entire brigade under 
them, while the commandant of the camp sweeps over the 
entire division. This officer and his officers of the day, 
old and new, ten persons, report to me daily at eleven a. m. 
and receive my orders. Thus I am advised of everything 
going on in the entire encampment. Each day I ride 
through the camps of all the regiments and make a per- 
sonal inspection. 

The quartermaster-general furnishes wood, straw, forage, 
etc., etc., and reports daily. The commissary-general 
furnishes all the rations, and reports daily. The surgeon- 
general has charge of all the surgeons, and reports daily 
the condition of the sick in camp and in the hospitals. 
So, we have a complete system. 

Thus I have introduced you to my military family, who 
seem to be having a merry Christmas. 

1 There were also the 4th Ohio regiment of cavalry, three bat- 
teries of artillery, and two companies of Michigan mechanics and 
engineers. 



KENTUCKY. 



239 



General Mitchel was at this time fifty-two years 
old. He was of an extremely wiry frame, and was 
possessed of wonderful endurance. His hair had 
lately grown gray, which made him look older than 
he really was. He was accustomed to ride a horse 
whose gait was a pace. On this horse he was all 
over the camps at all hours of the night and day. 
The guards were never certain of his coming. The 
men soon learned of his previous occupation, and 
called him " Old Stars." A sentinel who had been 
repeatedly visited while on duty once remarked that 
he "never could look up- without seeing 'Old Stars' 1 
coming along on his screw propeller." 

He was a great economizer of time, and rigidly 
punctual. His knowledge of and attention to detail 

1 Wm. Pittinger, in Daring and Suffering, relates the following 
characteristic incident: "In camp at Bacon Creek, Ky., on a very 
dark and stormy winter night, the guard was placed as usual, but 
along about three o'clock had grown careless — more anxious to rind 
shelter than to note everything that was stirring. Suddenly those of 
us who were 'off duty' received a startling surprise. The men on 
watch had permitted somebody to come up to our post unchallenged, 
and we knew nothing of it until this person was in our midst, seizing 
the soldiers in no gentle manner by arm and collar, and shaking them 
or tumbling them out of the guard tent, as he exclaimed, ' Why don't 
you turn out the guard?' Some of the soldiers were for resisting ; 
but all were submissive enough when the word passed around, ' It 's 
old Mitchel himself.' We were very soon in our places, and then we 
listened to a lecture, as we stood in the rain, not on the subject of 
astronomy ! When the general was gone the soldiers grumbled, and 
wished they had an officer ' who had not studied the stars so long, 
that he could not sleep at night himself and would not let anybody 
else sleep ! ' but we resolved not to be caught in the same Avay again ; 
and we never were ! We now knew, in our division, that the only 
way to get along in peace with our commander was to faithfully per- 
form every part of military duty. We exercised the soldier's preroga- 
tive in grumbling, but we loved and trusted him for all that, and would 
have followed him to Mobile or Savannah without hesitation, assured 
that he would have carried safely through what he undertook." 



240 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



was remarkable. 1 He was at home in the quarter- 
master's, the commissary's, the adjutant -general's 
departments alike, and gave equal attention to the 
sick. Upon assuming command of his division he at 
once commenced to bring it up to as high a state of 
efficiency as possible. For a time his natural rest- 
lessness found vent in the constant drilling of his 
troops, or in the invention of some new method for 
rendering more efficient the different articles which 
go to make up the equipment of an army. But after 
he had drilled his division to a state of efficiency that 
would bear no farther strain, he began to fret in 
earnest. The more he fretted the more he drilled. 
Many a sentry surprised before daybreak nodding 
on his post by the sleepless general, had he known 
the cause underlying such restlessness, would have 
committed to a warmer sphere the conduct of the 
war instead of the general. He never retired later 
than nine o'clock, while lying in camp with no 
enemy in his front, and was up in the morning from 
three to five. After dressing he would usually write 
his letter home. 

Gun fire ! 5.50 a. m. by the watch, and now the drums 
and fifes and bugles are sounding over the entire camp. 
This promptitude is the result of hard labor, and now I 
begin to feel that I command a division. 

The commanders who held sway over the armies 
of the United States during the winter and spring of 
1862 were General McClellan, Commander-in-Chief, 
and directly commanding the Army of the Potomac ; 
General Halleck, commanding the Department of 

1 His commissary said that " General Mitchel knew everything 
about an army from the linchpin of a wagon to the most important 
implement of warfare." 



KENTUCKY. 



241 



Missouri ; and General Buell, commanding the Depart- 
ment of the Ohio. General McClellan endeavored 
to give such directions as would cause the eastern and 
western forces to act in concert. There may have 
been a time when General Halleck and General Buell 
were restricted by instructions pertaining to the work- 
ing out of the plan of the Commander-in-chief, but, 
so far away from the headquarters of the army, it is 
not likely that any offensive movements which either 
of them saw fit to undertake in their own depart- 
ments would have been prevented. Early in January 
General Grant was ordered to make "a great fuss" 
about moving on his forces to Nashville in connection 
with McClellan's plan ; but not to expose his flank, 
and by all means to avoid a serious engagement. 
General Buell proposed a combined attack on the 
centre and flanks of Johnston's armies. General 
Halleck proposed a movement up the Tennessee and 
Cumberland rivers, but with a force of not less than 
sixty thousand men. General McClellan said it 
would better be postponed, and informed General 
Buell that his own plans rendered a speedy occupa- 
tion of East Tennessee and its lines of railway, mat- 
ters of absolute necessity. This looked like swinging 
around to a point at which General Mitchel had be- 
gun three months before. 

Mitchel was the next officer in rank in the depart- 
ment to Buell. When Buell commenced to lay plans 
for the Army of the Ohio, he invited Mitchel (the 
order came rather in the form of an invitation than 
an order) to come to Louisville for consultation. 
This was the beginning of a series of interviews 
which took place at intervals extending- from early in 
January to March, 1862, when the two commanders 



242 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



separated, taking different routes. During this time 
General Buell always treated his subordinate with 
marked attention ; and if he did not act upon his 
counsel, at least spent many an evening till after 
midnight in availing himself of it. At these inter- 
views Mitchel begged hard to be permitted to inau- 
gurate an offensive campaign. At his first interview 
with General Buell at Louisville he proposed a plan 1 
and begged the command. He went back to camp, 
leaving General Buell to consider it. On January 
loth, he again went to Louisville to report the result 
of a reconnoissance he had made, and again endeav- 
ored to secure an active instead of an inactive field. 
Early in February, after still another visit, he wrote : 

Buell gives me to understand that no immediate cooper- 
ation could be expected from Halleck, and that is one rea- 
son we are mud-bound. It rains, then snows a little, then 
freezes a little, then thaws a good deal, and finally every- 
thing on the surface of the ground seems liquid earth, and 
our cavalry horses have the scratches to such a degree that 
half of them are this day unfit for service. All this from 
being compelled to remain in the same spot. 2 

General Buell at this time commanded an army of 
not less than sixty thousand effectives. The princi- 
pal part of this force was in position to threaten 
Bowling Green, within whose fortifications General 
Hardee commanded not over fourteen thousand men. 3 

1 There is no record of the plan he proposed. 

2 There was a great deal of sickness in camp at this time, camp 
fever beinc: especially prevalent. Lieutenant Henry Overman, whom 
General Mitchel had but recently appointed to his staff, was sent home 
on the sick list, and died a few weeks after. 

3 General Buell largely overestimated Hardee's force. Buell pro- 
posed a plan of campaign to Halleck on January 3, 1862, in which he 
placed the force of the enemy in Kentucky at eighty thousand men. 



KENTUCKY. 



243 



At the time the foregoing was written General Grant 
was within ten days of the capture of Fort Donald- 
son. Singularly enough, " no immediate cooperation 
could be expected from General Halleck," and yet 
General Grant was on the eve of the first important 
success of the war, a success that laid open all the 
territory lying before General Buell from Munfords- 
ville to the Tennessee River. 

On the 6th of February General Grant captured 
Fort Henry, and on the 8th informed General Hal- 
leck that he was going to take Fort Donaldson. A 
day or two later General Mitch el was again called 
to Louisville. When he returned to camp he had an 
order to advance. 

Washington, February 12, 1862. 
My dear General : . . . We are looking for great 
things from the Army of Kentucky. It is deplorable that 
you were ever recalled from your movements in East 
Tennessee. But that mistake, as well as many others, 

must be made good by future achievements 

Yours very truly, 

S. P. Chase. 



VI. 



BOWLING GREEN AND NASHVILLE. 

The third division marched ten miles to Mun- 
fordsville, on Green River, where McCook's division 
was encamped, and crossing Green River on the rail- 
road bridge, which had been recently reconstr acted 
(it had been burned by the Confederates), encamped 
for the night on the south bank. 

Mitchel had been so long restrained that an order 
to move was like a fresh wind to a becalmed sailor. 
Rest to him was abhorrent ; motion his normal con- 
dition. General Buell had arranged with him a defi- 
nite plan of campaign. The fall of Fort Donaldson, 
soon destined to lay open Kentucky and Tennessee, 
had not yet occurred, and it was expected that the 
Army of the Ohio would have to fight its way south. 
The following letter, written by Mitchel on the 
march, shows his pleasure at being relieved from in- 
action. 

TO MR. COE. 

Camp Madison, t'other side Green River, 
February 12, 1862. 
Your kind letter reached me as the moment so long 
and so impatiently looked for arrived, bringing an order 
for the third division to advance. On Saturday and 
Sunday General Buell did me the honor to submit plans 
and general outlines for my examination, and at noon Sun- 
day we reached definite conclusions. At two p. m. I took 
the cars for camp, and at once assembled my brigade com- 



BOWLING GREEN AND NASHVILLE. 245 



manders and colonels at headquarters. This meeting was 
at eight p. m., Sunday night, and at seven A. m., Monday, 
my entire division was on the march for the Land of Dixie. 
We are now planted south of Green River, and I am at 
last in the position to which my rank entitles me. The 
general and myself reached the same conclusions, and our 
views harmonize exactly ; so look out, my good friends, 
for moves on the theatre of war that will wake this nation 
from its long slumber and send a thrill of joy throughout 
the land. 

I did wait a little longer, and your advice has proved to 
be most admirable. All I fear is a want of iron firmness 
and irresistible energy in the execution of the projected 
expeditions ; for there are two, — one commanded by Gen- 
eral Buell, the other by your friend who writes. I am, of 
course, subordinate and am to cooperate, and must thus 
make my moves after those of my chief. 

The two generals were not destined to carry out 
their plans, which were rendered unnecessary by 
events soon to transpire elsewhere. Mitchel in this 
letter puts a cheerful face on his past waiting ; but 
any laurels, at least, that might have been gained 
by an earlier movement, were not now destined to 
be gathered. 

Twenty-two miles north of Bowling Green, 
February 13, 1862. 

This is written from the land of " Secessia." We 
marched the division this morning for Bowling Green, and 
have advanced thus far very successfully. The morning 
was beautiful, the banners of the many regiments, and the 
brilliant pennons of the cavalry and the heavy lumbering 
of the artillery, all conjoined to make a splendid spectacle. 

Everything has moved thus far to my entire satisfaction. 
The promptitude of the division was all I could desire, and 
the march (twenty miles) is seldom equalled in the time 
with so large a body of troops. 

The enemy had felled trees across the road in many 



246 



RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



places to obstruct our movements, but our pioneers, some 
thirty in number, with axes and brawny arms, soon swept 
the timber from our road. Indeed, its disappearance was 
almost magical. 

We are now encamped about two miles south of Bell's 
tavern, at which place the rebels burned the railroad depot 
last night. 

We move in the morning for Dripping Springs and then 
for Bowling Green. 

At Munfordsville General Mitchel reported prog- 
ress to General Buell, and received the following 
reply : — 

February 13, 1862. 
General Mitchel : I have just received your de- 
spatch, and am gratified, but not surprised, at the spirit 
with which your troops advance. Be watchful, and be sure 
of what is ahead of you and on your flanks. Make good 
use of your cavalry. The railroad company will commence 
repairs to-morrow. It may not be advisable to continue 
them further than the tunnel, until it is certain that they 
might not be as useful against you as for you, which you 
would have to guard against. Work on the telegraph will 
also commence to-morrow. The workmen will require pro- 
tection. Wood will have his division at Munfordsville to- 
morrow. My instructions mentioned Dripping Springs as 
the point to which you might advance for the present for 
discovering the movements of the enemy ; but that is by 
no means obligatory on you, if you see cause to stop short 
of that. It is not intended, nor is it advisable, that you 
should be greatly exposed in the present, stage of the plan 
of operations which I have in view. 

D. C. Buell, Brig.- Gen. Com'dg. 
Received at Munfordsville, two a. m., 14th February, 1862. 

These cautionary instructions do not seem to have 
influenced General Mitchel's subsequent movements. 
He knew from his scouts that the Confederates were 
evacuating Bowling Green. The Barren River flowed 



BOWLING GREEN AND NASHVILLE. 247 



by that city, which lay on its south bank. There was 
a railroad bridge across the river leading into Bowl- 
ing Green, which, if burned, would require weeks to 
rebuild. Mitchel hoped to save this bridge and cap- 
ture what stores the enemy had in Bowling Green. 

On the following morning the troops were again 
on the march. The day was bright and the ground 
frozen. General Mitchel rode to a small eminence 
where he could see the division as it passed him. 
Some German regiments came along singing and 
keeping time to their own music. As they marched 
past him he spoke to them : " I hear the solid tread 
of noble soldiers." This salutation became a by- 
word among them, and to this day, when the sur- 
vivors of that German brigade are formed for parade 
on gala occasions, or on Decoration Day, the word is 
passed along the line, " / hear the solid tread of noble 
soldiers." 

All day the march was continued through Ken- 
tucky, the sun glistening on the arms and banners 
of the troops, a welcome sight to many Union people 
who came to their doors to wave a welcome as the 
men tramped by. 

There are numerous basins in this region — the 
region of Mammoth Cave. These were full of rain- 
water. The enemy, in order to deprive our troops 
of water while on the advance, had filled these basins 
with carcasses of dead animals. The inhabitants were 
the only sufferers. After the advance of the Union 
army they lost no time in removing them. That 
evening the division made a halt till after midnight. 

On being aroused at two o'clock on the morning 
of the 14th of February, the little army recom- 
menced a forward movement towards Bowling Green. 



248 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



The men tramped rapidly on. As they grew tired 
the general sent staff officers in advance to press into 
service all the horses and wagons along the road for 
the purpose of carrying the knapsacks. As the wa- 
gons were turned out the men threw their knapsacks 
on them and stepped forward with renewed vigor. 

It was a cold, crisp morning. A light snow had 
fallen, but the day was fair. Onward hurried the 
army, each hour reducing the space between itself 
and Bowling Green. Presently a few prisoners were 
brought back from the head of the column, where 
the cavalry was now pushing forward at a gallop. 

They were asked, " Had the enemy burned the 
bridge ? " 

" Yes. It was fired at one o'clock this morning.' ' 
At last the bank of the Barren River is reached, 
and beyond are the hills, frowning with deserted 
fortifications. Between them lies the city, and 
plainly in front of all, the smoking ruins of the 
bridge. But there on the right is the railroad depot, 
and a train standing ready loaded with the last of the 
enemy's supplies. A battery unlimbers, a gun is 
pointed at the locomotive by the captain, and a shell 
goes directly through it. That train never left the 
depot. Far up on the hills are the last of Hardee's 
troops, filing on further down into Dixie, while the 
citizens in Bowling Green are in their cellars to avoid 
the shells. 

The history of the advance on Nashville might be 
far better told than in the hastily written accounts 
which General Mitchel gave his family; but there is 
a charm in the minuteness of pictures in a letter 
written on the ground at the time of important 
events which the most elaborate history does not 
possess. 



BOWLING GREEN AND NASHVILLE. 249 



Bowling Green, February 21, 1862. 
Colonel Scott, assistant secretary of war, and General 
Buell arrived in Bowling Green last evening, and are now 
with me at my headquarters. We hope to advance every 
day on Nashville, but General Buell holds back and re- 
mains undecided, as he did in Louisville. The railroad 
will be finished in a few days, and then to reach Bowling 
Green will be a matter of a few hours from Louisville. 
The railroad from here to Nashville is now uninjured, and 
I am begging General Buell to permit me to advance for 
its protection. There is an important tunnel forty miles 
from here which is arched with timber, and can be de- 
stroyed by fire in an hour by a single hand. This tunnel 
must be preserved, and why the general hesitates I know 
not. 

We have been for two days battling a great flood in the 
Barren River, which has submerged our ferry rope and has 
given us all sorts of trouble ; but to-day we expect two 
steamers from Green River, and when they arrive we will 
be quite independent of all ropes and ferries. 

In my judgment Nashville can as readily be taken as 
was Bowling Green. I have a locomotive captured from 
the rebels, and a train of fifteen cars picked up along the 
line. I can transport a thousand troops, and will have a 
second locomotive in readiness for the track to-morrow or 
Monday. 

While noting the influence exerted by General 
Mitchel to induce General Buell to let him go to 
Nashville, it may not be amiss to glance at another 
influence drawing Buell in another direction. After 
the capture of Fort Henry, General Halleck tele- 
graphed General Buell (on the 15th of February) : — 

To move from Bowling Green is not good strategy. 
Come and help me take and hold Fort Donaldson and 
Clarksville and move to Florence, cutting the railroad at 
Decatur, and Nashville must be abandoned precisely as 
Bowling Green has been. 



250 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MLTCHEL. 



Unfortunately for this plan there was one event 
which rendered it needless. General Grant captured 
Fort Donaldson the day after the despatch was writ- 
ten, and at the time of its reception the Confederates 
were hurrying away from Nashville. 

Bowling Green, February 20, 1862. 
I am writing, at three o'clock a. m., id my headquarters 
in the dwelling-house of a notorious secessionist, who is the 
auditor of the Confederate States. My room is the parlor, 
twenty-five feet by sixteen, and filled with my own camp 
furniture. I crossed the river on Tuesday in a ferryboat 
built by my own men, launched and navigated by them. A 
large portion of the army passed the river on Friday night 
of last week ; many more on Saturday. I remained to 
superintend the erection of two ferries, which would enable 
our baggage wagons and artillery to pass. These were 
both opened on Tuesday morning at daylight. At eight 
A. m., myself, staff, and mounted escort crossed the river 
and entered the Gibraltar of Kentucky, masters of the 
place. 

I spent Tuesday in a reconnoissance on the road leading 
to Nashville, and extended my examination some twelve 
miles to the village of Woodburu. I found the house at 
which Generals Hardee and Hinman stayed all night on 
Friday, the day we arrived. 

Their army, some eight or ten thousand men, camped all 
along the turnpike for two miles. They had covered the 
road with rails in many places, and at one point had built 
a double rail fence across the road. I returned in the 
evening and entered my new quarters, where I am writing. 

On yesterday a drenching rain fell all day, and a heavy 
rise in the river has compelled us to change our ferries, 
and much delay has been occasioned in crossing our teams. 

On yesterday we finished the repairs of a locomotive 
captured from the rebels. It came up to my quarters last 
evening, and I found it named " General Mitchel," in big 
chalk letters on a board. 

We went out about six miles, cut two heavy sticks of 



BOWLING GREEN AND NASHVILLE. 251 



timber to repair a bridge the rebels had burned, and at 
dark returned to town, leaving our mechanics' and engi- 
neers to put the bridge in order during the night. 

I have directed the locomotive and train to be in readi- 
ness to move down the road to Nashville, some twenty or 
thirty miles, accompanied by cavalry, artillery, and rifle- 
men. I have little doubt of the fall of Nashville, and if I 
could only persuade General Buell to permit my division 
to advance at once, in three days I should date my letters 
from the capital of Tennessee. 

I am satisfied with the conduct of my troops, and that is 
saying a good deal. General Buell has complimented us 
in the highest terms. 

In a letter dated on the 27th he continues : — 

•That night (Thursday) I succeeded in convincing Gen- 
eral Buell, by the aid of Secretary Scott, that it was entirely 
safe to advance on Nashville. The orders went out on 
Friday evening for all the brigades to march on Saturday 
morning with three days' rations in their haversacks and 
without tents or wagons. Orders were issued at the same 
time to have the railroad train and captured locomotives 
(two in number) and the cars ready to transport a section 
of artillery and a thousand riflemen. Saturday morning 
came and with it another drenching rainstorm. General 
Buell and aids, Colonel Scott, myself and staff, the artil- 
lery and riflemen, took the cars and moved slowly for 
Nashville, while the main body marched by the road 
through the drenching rain. 

At three p. m. we reached a part of the road unknown to 
us, and finding a rail taken out I went ahead on a hand-car 
to save the train from accident. Thirty-seven miles from 
Nashville we found the road entirely destroyed for a long 
distance by the terrible flood ; one bridge swept away and 
the track carried bodily down off the piers and abutments, 
three bridges gone, and the mischief to pay generally. We 
were brought to a dead stand, and were compelled either 
to return or rebuild the bridges and repair the road. The 



252 



RMS BY MA CKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



principal sections were found, and on Sunday we worked a 
thousand men all day, and in the evening two locomotives 
passed all the bridges but one. 

This was about two miles ahead. After dark, Secretary 
Scott, Colonel Smith, and myself, with about fifty men, 
took down the locomotive with two carloads of stone to 
pitch into the water, to form a foundation on which to build 
our pier of crib-work. We lighted five fires of cord wood, 
which we found in large piles close at hand. Four of 
these fires were in the creek right and left, and on the two 
sides of the stream. The fifth was on the railroad track 
on a lofty pile of wood covered with broken stone. At 
nine o'clock Captain Prentice arrived, and my black man 
Simon came with a great basket of provisions for supper, 
and in five minutes after, lighted by five blazing fires, an 
artist would have had before him a fine picture : The 
Assistant Secretary of War, the General, his Adjutant -and 
Aid, and the jet-black Simon, all in a group, with magnifi- 
cent lights and shades. 

Monday I left the train and on horseback reached the 
head of my division on its way to Nashville. I was hailed 
by the boys with lusty shouts. I moved to within a mile 
or two of Nashville, and then finding my artillery already 
on the bank of the river, and my cavalry posted, I returned 
to a house selected for my headquarters. Soon General 
Buell and the Secretary came up on their horses with their 
escort and took their supper with me. They then went to 
their own quarters, half a mile nearer the city. Monday 
the committee of citizens led by the mayor waited on Gen- 
eral, Buell and myself, and the formal surrender of all 
C. S. A. property was made. 

So here we are, the campaign ended, Bowling Green 
and Nashville ours, and nobody hurt. 

Nashville is on the south bank of the Cumberland 
River. Again, as at Bowling Green, the ruins of a 
fine railroad bridge stared the advancing army in 
the face. 



VII. 



EPISODES OF WAR. 

The Confederate General A. S. Johnston retreated 
from Nashville through Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, 
and Fayetteville to Decatur. It was a middle route 
of three different routes south, the other two being, 
the one between Nashville and Chattanooga, and that 
between Columbia, Pulaski, and Decatur. It has 
been said by his biographer that his object in taking 
this middle route was to intercept Bnell in case he 
advanced by either one of the three routes ; though 
if Buell had advanced with his whole effective force 
of some fifty thousand men, or even half of it, General 
Johnston would not have been very well prepared to 
resist him with only seventeen thousand men. It is 
more probable that General Johnston was hurrying 
to form a junction with Beauregard, without much 
thought of resisting Buell. 

General Mitchel was riding one morning at the 
head of his staff through the streets of Nashville. 
His force had only begun to enter the city. 1 There 

1 Mrs. Polk, the widow of ex-President Polk, lived at Nashville in 
the family mansion of the Polks. General Mitchel's division having 
first entered the city, Mrs. Polk sent a request that he wonld call upon 
her. It was the morning of the entry of the troops, when everything 
was in confusion, the city having been in a terrible condition conse- 
quent to the withdrawal of one army, and its citizens frightened at 
the prospects of occupation by another, that General Mitchel, attended 
by two of his staff, rode up to Mrs. Polk's house. The widow had 



254 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



were few people in the streets, and the doors and 
windows were mostly closed. A more desolate-look- 
ing city it would be hard to imagine. While trotting 
through these dreary thoroughfares, another general 
with his staff was seen approaching. It proved to 
be General Grant. 1 He had come up from Fort Don- 
aldson to secure an interview with General Buell ; 
but General Buell had not yet crossed the river. 
After exchanging a few words they separated, each 

sent for the general to ask protection for her husband's tomb. This 
having been promised, after brief conversation the party remounted 
their horses and rode away. 

When General Buell made his permanent headquarters in Nash- 
ville, and the remaining divisions had come up, he issued an order for 
all his division and brigade commanders to meet him for the purpose 
of paying their respects to Mrs. Polk. An incident which occurred 
during this somewhat embarrassing ceremonious visit was described 
at the time : — 

" Mrs. Polk seemed determined that no doubt should be entertained 
as to her sentiments in regard to our unhappy difficulties. The 
several gentlemen present as they were severally addressed simply 
bowed in silence, until General Mitchel, who was standing somewhat 
away from the party, was singled out. To him Mrs. Polk remarked : 
' General, I trust that this war will speedily terminate by the ac- 
knowledgment of Southern independence.' The remark was the 
signal for a lull in the conversation, and all eyes were turned upon 
the general to hear his reply. 

" He stood with his lips firmly compressed, and his eyes looking fully 
into those of Mrs. Polk as long as she spoke. He then said : ' Madam, 
the man whose name you bear was once President of the United 
States. He was an honest man and a true patriot. He administered 
the laws of this government with equal justice to all. We know no 
independence of one section of our country which does not belong to 
all others, and, judging by the past, if the mute lips of the honored 
dead, who lies so near us, could speak, they would express the hope 
that this war might never cease, if that cessation were purchased by 
the dissolution of the union of States over which he once presided.' 

" It is needless to say the effect was electrical, made, as the remark 
was, in a calm, dignified tone, and with that earnestness for which 
the speaker is distinguished." 

1 This was the trip for which General Halleck proposed to arrest 
General Grant. 



EPISODES OF WAR. 



255 



riding away on his own affairs. They never met 
before or afterwards during the war. 

Camp Andrew Jackson, March 5, 1862. 

The rebel generals have all fled, and we are left in 
possession of a great quantity of provisions they were un- 
able to remove. At least a half million pounds of bacon 
have been found, and bread, flour, beans, etc., etc., are 
daily coming to light. We were compelled to leave our 
tents behind in our rapid march, and it was a high grati- 
fication to discover a full supply of new tents of the best 
pattern in store ready for our use left behind by the 
enemy. The rebels are very down-hearted, and express 
great anxiety to have the war terminate. 

I was much amused yesterday : a fine, intelligent mu- 
latto came for a pass to Nashville. He was from Mur- 
freesboro. His master had fled with the family for fear of 
the Yankees, and was now sending his slave back to learn 
whether Nashville had been burned and its inhabitants 
slaughtered. I asked him how many troops were at Mur- 
freesboro. 

"None, sir." 

" Where have they gone ? " 

" Nobody knows, and they don't know themselves." 

This in my opinion is a literal truth. They do not know 
where to retreat or at what point to make a stand. Our 
general is quite as much at a loss to know what to do. He 
has here an army of fifty thousand effective troops, all anx- 
ious for occupation, but just now there is nothing to do. 

Camp Andrew Jackson, March 9, 1862. 

We had quite a "scene" in camp on yesterday, a real 
chapter out of the " Spy," or " Last of the Mohicans." 

After dinner, N and I, accompanied by two orderlies, 

mounted our horses to visit our advance guard and cavalry 
outposts, some five miles from our camp on the turnpike 
road leading to the rebels' den at Murfreesboro. 

A week ago we sent out an expedition consisting of 
three regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a section 



256 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

of artillery, to rout out a gang of freebooters commanded 
by a real Dick Turpin of a fellow known as Captain Mor- 
gan. He is the same man who burned the Bacon Creek 
bridge long ago, and burned a steamer here at Nashville 
the day we entered the city directly under our very eyes. 
He stopped Judge Bryan a week ago, to whom I had given 
a pass, and demanded it as a United States officer, and the 
judge very innocently handed him the pass, when the cap- 
tain politely informed him who he was, and remarked that 
he would deliver the pass to General Mitchel in person. 

After crossing the creek which flows at the foot of the 
range of hills on which we are encamped I met two officers 
of my division, and halting them asked why they were out- 
side our lines. They replied that they were taking a 
stroll, as it was a pleasant afternoon, and did not know 
that they were violating orders. I told them to return to 
camp, and never to cross the creek again without a written 
pass from headquarters ; that Morgan would pick them up 
one of these fine days and run them off to Dixie. We 
rode on about a mile beyond this point, when we found 
three wagons with forage in the road, with neither horses 
nor drivers. I was somewhat surprised, especially as the 
corn-sacks were open, and the corn scattered on the ground. 
I presumed the drivers had got drunk in the city and were 
off at a brewery on a regular spree. Some three hundred 
yards further I found more wagons in the same plight, and 
the corn-sacks on fire ; and looking forward I saw more 
wagons and some horses and drivers in confusion ; and be- 
ginning to suspect trouble I sent one of my orderlies at a 
full gallop ahead to discover the meaning of all this confu- 
sion. In a few minutes he returned full speed, reporting, 
that Morgan and his men had just captured the entire train 
of wagons, horses, their guards and drivers, and that Ken- 
nett's cavalry had been surrounded and taken. This story 
was so monstrous and incredible that I told the orderly he 
had been hoaxed, and rode forward myself to learn the 
facts. I was hailed by two gentlemen on the inside of the 
Insane Asylum grounds, one of whom was an old gentleman 
who asked if I were not General Mitchel. I answered 



EPISODES OF WAB. 



257 



affirmatively. " Then," said he, " for God's sake stop. 
Morgan has just swooped down, and has carried off a hun- 
dred of your horses and all the drivers ; and if you go 
further he will capture you ! " 

Learning these facts, there was not a moment to be lost. 
I directed one orderly to go at full speed to Colonel Ken- 
nett's camp, two miles distant, and order him to turn out 
his entire force, and fly to the rescue of his captured men, 
and try to head off Morgan in his efforts to escape with 
his prisoners and booty to Murfreesboro. The other or- 
derly was sent back to camp to turn out all the cavalry. 
N flew like lightning with orders to the two most dis- 
tant brigade commanders each to turn out a regiment, 
while I galloped to the headquarters of General Dumont, 
gave him the facts in two words, and directed him to turn 
out his cavalry and a regiment of infantry. The general 
looked at me in amazement, and lifting his hands exclaimed, 
" Good God ! Captain Braiden, my aid-de-camp and son- 
in-law, must be lost ! " 

The order given, I turned my horse's head and dashed 
up the hill to the quarters of the 9th Brigade. I found 
Colonel Harris of the 2d Ohio in his tent, gave him the 
facts, and shouted at the top of my voice to the boys to 
seize their rifles and form their companies instantly. In a 
moment the long roll was beating, 1 and in five minutes 
the cavalry and three regiments of infantry were moving 
at double quick. 

We put spurs to our horses and rode Jehu-like to the 
scene of the capture. My orderly had reached Kennett's 
camp, and the cavalry were already coming down the road. 
My mounted artillerymen, acting as cavalry, came up. I 
sung out for some one skilled in following a trail, when 
out darted three noble-looking fellows. " There," said I, 
" boys, are the tracks of Morgan's horses. Here they 
threw down the fence and, taking to the fields, have fled to 
the woods with their prisoners. Follow like lightning and 

1 Such precautions were in order, but it is probable that General 
Mitchel wished to test the rapidity with which his command could be 
turned out. 



258 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCREL. 



rescue our brave boys ! " A shout went up, and away they 
darted. The infantry was posted to support the cavalry in 
case of an attack from heavy reinforcements ; one regiment 
was sent up the road, a second down the turnpike, and a 
third in the direction taken by the enemy. 

Upon inquiry it became certain that Captain Braiden 
was captured, and that one of my escort, a most excellent 
man, was with the train and had doubtless fallen into the 
hands of the enemy ; also a sergeant of cavalry and a few 
privates, with some twenty teamsters and about eighty or 
ninety horses. The enemy had only about an hour's start, 
and I felt sure we should overhaul them and recover our 
horses, if not our officers and men. Having arranged 
everything I returned to camp. 

About nine o'clock messengers began to arrive. First 
some mules and horses were received, and our boys were 
hot on the chase. Then news of the recapture of some of 
our drivers. Then came another announcing the taking 
of all our horses and drivers, and the rescue of Captain 
Braiden, the sergeant, and my orderly ; and, finally, in came 
a guard with two prisoners taken from the enemy, and a 
note from Colonel Kennett stating that a wounded man 
was prisoner in his hospital, and that wounded man was a 
grand-nephew of Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati, the 
son of Alice Carneal, — young Warfieid of Mississippi. 

About ten o'clock in came General Dumont with his 
staff and the recaptured Captain Braiden, — -the happiest 
set of fellows you ever saw, — thanking me for his liberty 
and life, and giving me a most thrilling narrative of his 
capture and escape. 

I will go out this morning to visit young Warfieid, the 
grandson of my old friend, Major Carneal. What mar- 
vellous events this war develops ! 

These men declared that they knew and had seen me, 
described my horse and trappings, and told Captain Braiden 
he would have the honor of an introduction to General 
Hardee last night. We were too quick for them, and I 
hope to hear of more prisoners this morning. Here I send 
you a tale of the civil war. Get a copyright and make 
your fortune. 



EPISODES OF WAR. 



259 



March 11, 1862. 

The only enemy who seems to be of any account is 
Captain John Morgan, the Dick Turpin of Tennessee. I 
have determined to take him, if possible, and on last even- 
ing I started one of my rangers (Corporal Pike) to "spy 
out his camp." The boys took the greatest interest in 
disguising him. One furnished a coat, another a pair of 
trousers, I the citizen's saddle and bridle, Captain Loomis 
the horse, Captain Prentice the money (Tennessee, of 
course), and so we fitted out our spy and started him about 
eleven o'clock last night. He is probably in Morgan's 
camp by this time. The only trouble is in keeping the 
freebooter in one spot long enough to catch him ; but my 
scout has orders to return to me, in case he finds the camp, 
like a streak of lightning, and as my expedition is all 
planned we will fall on friend Morgan like a clap of 
thunder out of a clear sky. 

Corporal Pike was a character. He would go any- 
where in the enemy's lines, usually averting sus- 
picion by his coolness and daring. He would sit and 
talk by the hour about his adventures, mingling truth 
and fiction in such a way that one who listened to 
him would laugh at what was supposed to be the 
enormity of his fabrications. But experience proved 
that there was as much truth as fiction in what he 
said, and when he came to talk to the general he 
reported facts. General Mitchel found him invalu- 
able, and from this first service in learning of Mor- 
gan's whereabouts, till Pike's last scout for him, 
General Mitchel constantly relied upon him for in- 
formation. 

Camp Andrew Jackson, March 14, 1862. 
I can now give you the second chapter in our " Romance 
of the Civil War." On night before last Pike returned, 
and was brought to my tent a prisoner by the guard about 
midnight. He had penetrated Morgan's lines, passed all 



260 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



his pickets, and had actually passed seven miles beyond 
Morgan's headquarters at Murfreesboro. He had been hail- 
fellow with all his troopers, learned precisely where all his 
videttes were posted, and the roads to the three fords. In 
short, he came back fully prepared to guide an expedition 
to capture the freebooter and his band. At two p. m. yes- 
terday I issued my orders for Kennett's cavalry, a section 
of artillery, and twelve hundred riflemen, to march for our 
outposts, about seven miles from our camp on the road to 
Morgan's headquarters. The men did not know on what 
duty they were ordered, but imagined that an attack was 
anticipated on our pickets. I ordered sixty teams with 
wagons to follow, "to haul in a large amount of rebel bacon 
we had discovered in the road." 

Just at nightfall the infantry were halted on the turn- 
pike, the wagons drove up in front of the line, and the 
men were ordered to fill them. Twenty in each just took 
twelve hundred men. The cavalry now advanced to the 
front, then came the artillery, then the wagon-train of rifle- 
men, and last, a rear guard of mounted artillerymen. I 
had sent forward my mounted escort with orders to permit 
no one to pass going south, and to arrest every one who 
appeared on the turnpike. 

All our plans were complete, and the expedition was 
actually on the move, when an orderly came galloping up 
to me at full speed, announcing that my escort had been 
encountered by a flag of truce from the enemy. This was 
most extraordinary intelligence. I went forward, accom- 
panied by the commander of the expedition, the chief of 
cavalry and artillery, when, in the " misty moonlight," 
we discovered a white flag borne by a mounted officer, 
escorted by about twenty mounted men. It proved to be 
Captain John Morgan himself and a lot of his rangers, 
with a letter to me from General Hardee returning a citi- 
zen teamster who had been carried off by Morgan, and 
some letters from a few of our pickets they had captured 
at different times. 

Here was a most singular state of affairs. We were 
near a house. I dismounted, went in, read the letter, sent 



EPISODES OF WAR. 



261 



for my chief officers, and I finally determined to send to 
General Buell. It was twelve miles to ride, but Colonel 
Kennett undertook to go and return in two hours. I then 
called in Morgan and Colonel Wood, who was also in his 
party, and announced to them my determination, and in- 
formed them that with my escort and two companies of 
cavalry we would ride forward to the Lunatic Asylum, 
some six or seven miles towards Nashville. The rebels 
had thus an opportunity to see the whole force which had 
been prepared to take them. The colonel and Captain 
Morgan rode, one on each side of me, and on seeing my 
formidable preparations expressed themselves as very for- 
tunate in their escape. The large force mounted in wagons 
attracted their attention especially. That was to them a 
new feature in warfare. 

We passed on our march some three thousand magnifi- 
cent soldiers, and Wood and Morgan both expressed their 
surprise at our admirable appearance. In two hours Colonel 
Kennett returned from General Buell. The officers in the 
mean while had supper prepared at the asylum. Colonel 
Kennett was directed to detain them till about daylight, 
and then escort them outside our lines. The expedition 
was abandoned and thus a most capital adventure spoiled. 

Morgan and his men were hospitably entertained 
by those in charge of the asylum, and at daylight 
were sent out of the lines as General Buell had di- 
rected. They soon after commenced a fusillade on 
our pickets as a parting salute. 

The treatment Morgan received at this time from 
General Mitchel was never forgotten by the former. 
Morgan then either had no commission from the 
Confederacy, or a roving one, which no one was 
bound to respect. He came into our lines under flag 
of truce, in citizen's clothes, and no sooner were the 
preparations for the expedition perceived than one 
of the troopers of his band broke away, galloping 



262 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



towards Dixie with all his speed. It was evident 
that the object was to convey news of the intended 
expedition. The trooper w T as caught and brought 
back to General Mitchel. Morgan disclaimed any 
connection with the man's movements, but acknowl- 
edged that he had violated the flag of truce, and told 
General Mitchel to take him and do with him what 
he liked. With this incident, and Morgan in citi- 
zen's dress, it would not have required any diligent 
search for pretexts to detain the whole party. Gen- 
eral Mitchel, with characteristic dislike for any petty 
means of warfare, told Morgan to take the trooper 
back with him, as he had no use for him. 

Morgan rode with his band through the Union 
lines to Gallatin, some twenty miles northeast of 
Nashville, and, as was usual with him on entering a 
town, first took possession of the telegraph office. 
He then sent the following despatch to General 
Mitchel : — 

Gallatin, Tenn., March 17, 1862. 
General : An opportunity offering here of communi- 
cating directly with you, we gladly avail ourselves of it, for 
the purpose of thanking you for the kind courtesies and 
manly reception with which you honored us but a few 
days since. We look back to our visit to the asylum as to 
us one of the most agreeable remembrances of the war. 
Entertaining some doubt as to the accuracy of the informa- 
tion given us regarding the aspect of affairs generally in 
the West, we have ridden over to this place to obtain the 
latest advices. If any mischief has been committed, or 
property destroyed, I beg leave to assure you it was occa- 
sioned by military necessity. We had intended paying 
you a visit within the next few days, but upon reflection 
concluded to try some less "wide-awake" command. We 
should like General Buell to know that, though we have 
possession of this city, the citizens will not be in the slight- 



EPISODES OF WAR. 



263 



est degree interfered with or prevented from pursuing their 
ordinary vocations. Before we advance upon Nashville we 
purpose notifying General Buell, in order that he may 
make such provision for the safety of the women and chil- 
dren as humanity would suggest. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

Robt. C. Wood, Jr., 
Jno. H. Morgan, 

Confed. Cav. 

Five or six weeks after this, when General Mitchel 
was much further south, a son, 1 who served on his 
staff, was returning to camp from sick-leave. He 
stopped for dinner one day at Pulaski, Tenn., and 
while at table, hearing a clatter of horses' feet in the 
street without, and going on to the front porch to 
discover the cause, found himself in a twinkling sur- 
rounded by a squad of Morgan's cavalry. Twenty 
pistols were levelled at his head, and as many voices 
called on him to surrender. He was taken to Mor- 
gan, who asked him his name. 

" Mitchel." 

" A relation of General Mitchel ? " 
"A son." 

" Upon my word," said Morgan, " I would not 
have captured your father's son for the world had I 
known it. However, it can't be helped now. I 
must send you south. Have you any money ? " 

Captain Mitchel informed him that he was the 
possessor of a few greenbacks. 

" That won't avail you in the south," said Mor- 
gan, standing up for Confederate money. " Here 's 
$500 in good Confederate bills. Take it along." 

His kind offer was declined ; whereupon he rode 



1 Captain E. M. Mitchel, died 1873 



264 OEM SB Y MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



off to attack a wagon train laden with rations for 
General Mitchel's army, which was passing near by, 
and which he had been watching for some time. He 
captured the train and with it so many prisoners that 
he was obliged to parole them, and Captain Mitchel 
was suffered to proceed to camp. 

It happened that General Mitchel had not been 
idle during the few months previous to this episode, 
and upon entering a southern town, where he was not 
expected, at sunrise one bright morning, found a 
younger brother of Morgan's, who had been wounded, 
quietly sleeping, and captured him. When Captain 
Mitchel walked into camp a prisoner on parole, he 
found there this brother of the man who had captured 
him. Exchange being fair play, young Morgan was 
sent home to Lexington, Ky., by General MitcheFs 
permission, to recruit his health, and wrote to his 
brother requesting him to effect the exchange. This 
was done, and the two young men released from their 
parole. 

These episodes with Morgan were among the 
pleasanter of the various incidents of the war. Dar- 
ing men are apt to conceive a special liking for each 
other, and there were many things to inspire Mitchel 
and Morgan with mutual interest. Mitchel moved 
with a regularly organized force — as will appear 
later on — much in the same fashion as Morgan 
moved with cavalry. Both men gave their lives to 
the cause for which they fought. Morgan, after pass- 
ing through many daring adventures, undertook a 
raid through Ohio. He was captured and confined 
in the Ohio state penitentiary. From there he es- 
caped, and returned to the field. General Basil 
Duke, who has written an account of Morgan's ex- 



EPISODES OF WAR. 



265 



ploits, says that he never was the same man after this 
capture. His spirit had been in a measure broken, 
and much of his former confidence had left him. He 
was killed not long after in Tennessee. Meanwhile 
he had risen to be a brigadier-general in the Confed- 
erate service. 



VIII. 



MUKFREESBORO. 

Meanwhile General Halleck had been placed in 
command of all the armies of the West. General 
Grant was at Pittsburgh Landing, and General Buell 
received orders to advance the Army of the Ohio to 
Savannah, a point about ten miles distant from 
Grant's command, where it was intended that the 
two armies should form a junction. 

It was necessary that there should be a portion of 
the Army of the Ohio left as a corps of observation 
of that territory extending from Corinth through 
Chattanooga to Knoxville, and that a garrison should 
be kept for Nashville. General Dumont was trans- 
ferred to the command of the troops at Nashville, 
General W. H. Lytle succeeding to the command of 
Dumont's brigade. It was determined to leave 
Mitchel with his division as a corps of observation, 
and he was advanced to Murf reesboro. 

General Mitchel moved on south, breaking camp 
at Nashville on the 18th of March. One of his staff 
being threatened with typhoid fever, another mem- 
ber was directed to remain with him at Nashville, 
and if necessary send him north. The officer en- 
trusted with the sick comrade placed him on a 
steamer and sent him to Cincinnati, where he would 
be the better prepared to endure a long sickness 
with which he was threatened. Meanwhile General 



MURFREESBORO. 



267 



Mitchel's division had moved thirty-five miles south. 
To go through a hostile country alone, in which guer- 
rillas lurked in every wood, was not a very safe pro- 
ceeding. Learning at General Buell's headquarters 
that a mounted escort was to go through with de- 
spatches, the aide was about to join them, when Cor- 
poral Pike appeared. General Mitchel had sent him 
to get news of the sick member of his staff. The 
aide determined to go through to the front with 
Pike. The despatches were entrusted to his care, 
and the two started about dusk to ride thirty miles 
before morning. 

After scouting their way Indian fashion during the 
night, they stopped at a farm-house for breakfast. 
At the table sat a tall man with a long, brownish 
beard, eating in silence. No joke or banter could 
elicit either a smile or a word from this silent, 
strange-looking man, who neither seemed to be a 
citizen of the country nor connected with the army. 

After breakfasting, the aide and Pike mounted 
their horses and proceeded to camp. Upon riding 
up to General Mitchel's headquarters, who should be 
standing before the general's tent but the silent man 
with the long beard. He proved to be Mr. J. J. 
Andrews, who not long afterwards led a party of 
daring men into the South for the purpose of captur- 
ing a railroad train. 

Mr. Andrews had proposed to General Buell at 
Nashville the following plan: He offered to take a 
small party of soldiers, disguised as Southern citi- 
zens, into Georgia. A friend of his was then a loco- 
motive engineer on the Georgia State railroad from 
Atlanta to Chattanooga. His design was to board 
his friend's train, ride to a favorable point from some 



268 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



station west of Atlanta, on towards Chattanooga, 
capture the train or the locomotive, and, cutting the 
telegraph wires and burning the bridges behind him, 
speed on through Chattanooga and Bridgeport to the 
advance of Buell's army. General Bueli sent him 
to General Mitchel with an order that he be fur- 
nished with volunteers to the number of eight men 
(if volunteers could be found), and he was now at 
Mitchel's headquarters at Murfreesboro, arranging 
for his expedition. Volunteers were found, and 
Andrews started on his mission; but it was not a 
success. Andrews failed to find his friend the rail- 
road engineer, and returned with his party without 
accomplishing anything. He afterwards made an- 
other attempt, which will be mentioned further on. 

General Mitchel marched his division from Nash- 
ville to Murfreesboro, a distance by the road of 
forty-five miles, in two days. Murfreesboro was a 
beautiful Southern town on the banks of Stone River, 
and was then surrounded by a noble forest. Gen- 
eral Mitchel rode into the open square in the centre 
of the town in advance of his division, attended only 
by his staff and his escort, consisting of some twenty 
cavalrymen. A knot of citizens had gathered on 
the sidewalk, and were idly gaping at the Yankee 
commander. Some one called out good-naturedly, 
"Make us a speech, General!" The general, usu- 
ally ready on such occasions, pointed to the head of 
a column of cavalry coming down the street, and 
replied, " There 's my speech." 

Camp Van Buren, 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., March 21, 1862. 

.... On reaching Nashville the rebels were on the 
march to this place, and were in great disorder. An ad- 



MURFREESBORO. 



269 



vance then by our own troops would have scattered them 
like chaff, and we would have captured all their stores ; 
but General Buell determined to wait the coming up of 
fifty-two thousand men. This required ten days, and then 
it was useless to push forward to this place, as the rebels 
were gone with all their supplies, leaving all the turnpike 
and railroad bridges a wreck behind them. Now we are 
compelled to halt and rebuild these railroad bridges before 
it will be possible for us to move into Alabama. 

This is a hard life, with very little in the present or 
future to make it endurable. Still, we must do our duty 
and fight it out. 

Blessed word, home 7 Would that I too could fix a time 
for my return to the bosom of my family once more ! 
Alas ! the day is far distant, I fear, and should it ever 
come there will be many sighs and tears mingled with our 
rejoicings. 

At Murfreesboro the Louisville and Nashville rail- 
road crosses Stone River. The ground between the 
heights on either bank of the river is low, involving 
considerable trestle-work. This work, making three 
different bridges, in all some twelve hundred feet 
long, had been destroyed by General Johnston on his 
retreat towards Decatur. It became the task of 
General Mitchel to rebuild it, as the railroad was his 
natural means of supply. 

He at once put Captain Yates and his two com- 
panies of Michigan mechanics and engineers at work, 
detailing such men as were skilled in this kind of 
construction from among the other troops of the 
division to assist them. The building of this bridge 
so well illustrates Mitchel's energy and rapidity, that 
an account given by himself to one of his friends 
is entered here in full. General Mitchel kept the 
superintendence of the work in his own hands. He 



270 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



threw off at once all the empressement of a com- 
manding general and stepped down into the river in 
a pair of high-top boots to boss gangs of workmen. 

TO MR. COE. 

Murfreesboro, Tenn., April 2d. 
On Friday a large force was put to work on three rail- 
road bridges near this town, — No. 1, 380 feet long; No. 
2, 320 feet long ; No. 3, 220 feet long. These formidable 
bridges must be rebuilt before we could advance, as with- 
out the railroad we could not feed the army for lack of 
transportation. On Saturday morning I learned that we 
had framing tools for only two gangs of framers, when I 
wished to set twenty gangs to work. I at once mounted 
my horse, went to Nashville, purchased all I required 5 
returned the same day, and on Sunday morning at day- 
light the wagon arrived with the tools. My journey was 
seventy-five miles. Sunday everything was grooved up. 
Monday we framed and raised four butts. Tuesday five 
butts went up on No. 1 and four on No. 2. Timber out 
on No. 3. Wednesday five butts went up on No. 1, six on 
No. 2, and the framing commenced on No. 3. Thursday 
finished raising the butts on Nos. 1 and 2, and this morn- 
ing two bridges are finished, and the third one nearly 
ready for the iron. Thus in ten days 1 a work has been 

1 Colonel Paul says: I was with General O. M. Mitchel in 1862 
when he rebuilt the bridges at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and I was 
afterwards commissary of subsistence on the staff of General George 
H. Thomas, commanding the 14th army corps of the Army of the 
Cumberland, under General Rosecrans, commander-in-chief After 
the battle of Stone River and the retreat of the Confederates these 
bridges were again burned, and it was essential that they be again 
built as soon as possible, in order to transport rations into Murfrees- 
boro across Stone River. The work was under the charge of General 
Morton, of the Engineer Corps, a regiment of engineers and me- 
chanics, and with the Army of the Cumberland to draw from for 
workmen ; and they were engaged for a period of six weeks before 
the bridge was completed. The bridge was made much more sub- 
stantial than the one constructed by General Mitchel. But the first 
bridge answered the purpose as well as the last. 



M URFREESB ORO. 



271 



accomplished which has no parallel in the histories of 
bridge-building, and which General Buell pronounced 
absolutely impossible. But alas ! it is all of no avail. 
Some small bridges near Nashville, on which the work 
has been progressing some six weeks, are unfinished, and 
thus my entire division is held back, after the most positive 
promise on the part of our general that these bridges 
should occasion no delay. Learning these facts, I sent 
one of my staff to Nashville to communicate by telegraph 
with General Buell, at Columbia, and I hope to be placed 
in command of the entire railroad to Chattanooga, and 
then my troubles will be over, for with a clear field and 
plenty of room in which to operate, and no one to depend 
on but myself, I ask no odds of any one. I hope one of 
these days to address you from Decatur, or, possibly, from 
Chattanooga. I care little or nothing for the destruction 
of the railroad bridges. I can rebuild them and move my 
army faster than others usually march. The moment the 
Nashville bridges are finished my way is clear to Shelby- 
ville, and thence I will soon open it to Fayetteville ; and 
once there, I will laugh at railway communication, as I can 
advance upon Decatur even without a halt and supply my 
army with my regimental teams. 

I have but one trouble, and that is my dependence on 
others, who are too slow. The entire war has been moved 
too slowly. 

In the following letter to one of his family he 
gives freer vent to his impatience. 

Captain Prentice has just returned from Nashville (four 
o'clock a. m.), having ridden two nights, with no answer 
from General Buell to my telegram asking to be placed in 
charge of the railroad. He is the slowest person I ever 
had the misfortune to be associated with, and tries my 
patience in the severest manner almost daily. I wish I 
had the management of this war for just thirty days ! 
Here now I shall be compelled to wait ! wait ! ! wait ! ! ! 

My division is in splendid condition. The work of the 



272 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



past two weeks has brought up their health and spirits, 
and they are ready for any service. Soon they will dis- 
cover that all their efforts are useless, their spirits will 
flag, idleness about camp will engender disease, and in a 
short time our hospitals will be filled. 

I will quit writing and go to bed. The day is just 
breaking, but with it comes no brightness to me. 

Murfreesboro was the residence of a number of 
retired Tennesseeans, and contained some very pretty 
women, from among whom several Union officers 
afterwards chose wives. The lady to whom John 
Morgan was engaged lived there at the time. 
Her father was one of the most prominent men of 
the place, and though his sympathies were largely 
with his brethren, often came to General Mitchel's 
headquarters, behaving with considerable discretion. 
He invited the general and his staff to call at his 
house, and General Mitchel had the honor of a few 
pleasant words with the fiancee of the man who was 
so interested in his wagon trains, and whom he was 
so anxious to catch. 

After the battle of Stone River, which occurred 
more than a year later, Murfreesboro was a sad sight. 
The splendid trees were all felled to make way for 
the sweep of shot and shell; and immense armies 
encamped, first Confederate and then Union, all 
about it. 



IX. 



HUNTS VILLE. 

While his army was marching to join Grant, 
Buell took up his headquarters at Columbia. From 
there he sent his last instructions to General Mitchel 
at Murfreesboro. These instructions give so clear a 
statement of the disposition of troops left to operate 
on the line entrusted to General Mitchel that they 
are given entire. 

Headquarters Army of the Ohio, 
Camp near Columbia, Tenn., 
March 27, 1862. 

Brig.-Gen. O. M. Mitchel, 

Commanding Third Division, Murfreesboro, 

General : I have already informed you in conversa- 
tion of certain dispositions which affect your part of the 
campaign just commencing. These dispositions, for the 
present, you will remember, place your division finally at 
Fayetteville ; Duffield's brigade, with a battery and bat- 
talion of cavalry, at Murfreesboro, with a detachment at 
Lebanon ; Negley's brigade, with a battery and battalion 
of cavalry, at Franklin ; and a division at or in front of 
Columbia, to act to the left in conjunction with you, or to 
the right, according to circumstances. 1 

These arrangements have in view convenience either to 
advance against certain positions of the enemy, or to 
oppose any offensive move on his part. Excepting your 
own division the troops are not strictly under your com- 
mand, but they will become so unless otherwise ordered, in 

3 The Seventh division of the Army of the Ohio, under General 
Morgan, was in Eastern Kentucky. 



274 ORMSBY M A CKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



case of an advance of the enemy towards Nashville, which 
renders their concentration or united action necessary. 
And they will be so instructed. Besides the troops above 
enumerated there will be a regiment near the city on the 
Murfreesboro road, a regiment at Franklin, and one at 
Columbia, with about a regiment of cavalry distributed at 
different points as guards to depots and roads. 

It is not necessary to point out to you how this force 
can be concentrated either for an advance or for defence, if 
necessary. It can be marched from twenty-five to thirty- 
five miles over good turnpikes, concentrate at Shelbyville, 
or in twenty-five miles more for portions of it, at Fayette- 
ville or at Columbia, or Pulaski ; or still further in advance 
at Huntsville or Decatur. These points are of more or less 
importance in consequence of the routes they command ; 
and some of them are on streams — Duck River and Elk 
River — which in high water would have some strength as 
defensive lines, though in the dry season they are fordable 
at many points. Fayetteville is also important as affording 
by the branch railroad from Decherd a good depot for 
operations against any position north of it on your line. 
I do not think it necessary to do more than suggest these 
general features to you. You will understand well how to 
take advantage of them, or guard against them, according 
to circumstances. 

Move one of your brigades, with a battery and the prin- 
cipal part of your cavalry, at once to Shelbyville, to which 
point it is desirable to complete your railroad transportation. 
As soon as the bridges you are at work on are so far ad- 
vanced that you can leave them, carry forward the princi- 
pal portion of your division to that point, and throw a bri- 
gade and strong force of cavalry forward to Fayetteville. 
As soon as possible move the principal part of your division 
forward to Fayetteville. From this position the railroad 
at or beyond Decherd must be carefully watched, and so 
must all the routes in front of you. Endeavor in connec- 
tion with these movements to secure some of the stock 
on the roads north of Decherd by a rapid movement of 
cavalry through Winchester to that point. Inform yourself 



HUNTS VILLE. 



275 



by all possible means of the position, movement, and 
strength of the enemy ; preserve thorough discipline and 
instruction in your command, and keep it in readiness at 
all times for any service. Purchase your supplies in the 
country as far as possible. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D. C. Buell, Brig. Gen. Comd'g. 
P. S. — Let me know what progress you are making. 

General Mitchel moved his division to Shelby ville. 
In this place there was considerable Union sentiment. 
The general took up his quarters for one night, before 
locating his headquarters' camp, in a building on the 
central open square of the town. The spring comes 
up earlier in Tennessee than in the North, and al- 
ready the weather was balmy. About ten o'clock at 
night, while the town was quiet and dimly lighted 
by a young moon, some voices were heard out in the 
square singing " The Red, White, and Blue." It 
was the first time such an air had been heard except 
from the regimental bands, and was refreshing to the 
officers who listened. 

At Shelbyville General Mitchel was obliged to 
wait the finishing of the two bridges in his rear 
(mentioned above), over which he had no control. 
His objective point in the campaign was the Memphis 
and Charleston Railroad. While waiting for the 
completion of the bridges behind him he concluded 
to make an effort to capture and burn the bridge 
over the Tennessee River at Bridgeport, a point some 
sixty miles southeast of Shelbyville. General Mit- 
chel, having informed himself of the strength of the 
guard, sent a cavalry force with one gun through 
the Cumberland Mountains, which was to surprise 
the bridge guard, drive it away, burn the bridge, and 



276 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



retire. The expedition proved a failure, and General 
Mitchel found himself obliged to pursue his plans 
without this auxiliary. 

From Nashville two railroads extend south to the 
Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the one through 
Franklin, Columbia, and Pulaski, forming a junction 




THE ROUTE TO HUNTS VILLE. 



at Decatur ; the other through Murfreesboro, Wart- 
race, Tullahoma and Decherd, forming a junction 
with the Memphis and Charleston road at Stevenson. 
These three roads form a triangle, the northern angle 
at Nashville, the eastern at Stevenson, and the west- 
ern at Decatur. The Tennessee River runs south of 
the Memphis and Charleston Railroad from Bridge- 
port, a point eleven miles east of Stevenson, to Deca- 
tur. The bridges at Bridgeport and Decatur were 



HUNTSVILLE. 



277 



both very large, and if destroyed, it would have taken 
several months to rebuild them, and the country be- 
tween them might be occupied by an invading force 
with a front protected by the Tennessee River. 

The Memphis and Charleston Railroad w r as the 
main artery between the East and the West. At 
Cleveland, a point some twenty miles east of Chatta- 
nooga, it branched, one fork running north through 
East Tennessee (the road General Mitchel proposed 
to cut in the fall of 1861), while the other fork passed 
south through Dalton to Atlanta. Thus Confederate 
troops could be passed from the eastern cotton States 
or from East Tennessee to the West, and vice versa ; 
and at short notice a considerable force might be con- 
centrated at any point along the line. From Shelby- 
ville, a point lying within and near the centre of the 
triangle named, General Mitchel looked down on 
this coveted territory: Stevenson to his left, Hunts- 
ville directly south, and Decatur to his right. The 
limited force under his command, the rapidity with 
which the enemy could concentrate troops on the 
railroad threatened, rendered its occupation very 
hazardous. There were two railroad lines, by either 
of which he could advance : to Stevenson or to De- 
catur. If he took either of these routes, the enemy 
could cut him off by the other. From Shelbyville to 
Huntsville there was no railroad. His railroad com- 
munication was complete to Shelbyville, which he 
could make his great depot. South of this to Hunts- 
ville, the nearest point on the Memphis and Charles- 
ton Railroad, there was a gap of fifty-seven miles over 
which supplies would have to be hauled by wagon. 
It would need one hundred and ten wagons to feed 
the army. There were but eighty in the division 



278 



RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



train, but by using the regimental trains this method 
of supplies was practicable. 

The machine shops of the road were located at 
Huntsville, and it was supposed that considerable 
rolling stock was kept at that point. If by a forced 
march he could surprise Huntsville, cut the track on 
each side of the city so that no rolling stock could be 
taken away, with captured engines and cars he might 
quickly transport his troops to Stevenson and to 
Decatur, and seizing these points insure comparative 
safety. The plan was a good one, but it required 
celerity, and the failure of any one of its three points 
might lead to disaster. 

General Mitchel concluded to undertake it. He 
made a remark to one of his staff about this time, 
which gives a clue to the failure of so many good 
men, and scientific, and brave soldiers, as generals. 
" When a general has made up his mind to an under- 
taking," he said, — " has formed his plans — has is- 
sued his orders to his troops to be in readiness, — 
then when there is but one word to say, ' Go,' it is 
the hardest thing in the world to say it." The diffi- 
culty did not master him on this occasion. 

Mr. J. J. Andrews came into camp at Shelbyville 
and reported the failure of his expedition. He 
brought his men back safely. Having missed his 
friend, the locomotive engineer, he did not make the 
attempt. He found General Mitchel about to move 
south. General Buell was at Columbia. Andrews 
did not go to Columbia to report his ill success to 
General Buell ; he conferred with Mitchel, and be- 
tween the two a second expedition was concocted. 
General Buell was now too far away to warrant a 
laying before him of the details of this second expe- 



HUNTS VILLE. 



279 



dition. Whether General Mitchel regarded it simply 
as a renewed attempt to carry out Bueli's original 
order, or whether he took the responsibility of fur- 
nishing men for a new enterprise, does not matter. 
Andrews was furnished with twenty-two volunteers, 
and left Shelby ville secretly the day before Mitchel 
moved from the same place. 

Mitchel sent Corporal Pike down along the route 
by which he proposed to advance. Pike rode into 
Fayetteville one evening some thirty miles in advance 
of the Union pickets, dressed in the uniform of the 
4th Ohio cavalry, rode up to the hotel, dismounted 
with perfect composure, and directed that his horse 
should be fed, and entering the hotel, called for sup- 
per. It was surmised at once by those about that 
he belonged to Morgan's band, the members of which 
were known to be in the habit of assuming Federal 
uniforms whenever the occasion required. They asked 
him to let them see his carbine. He took off the cap 
and handed the weapon to them, and went on eat- 
ing his supper. After he had refreshed himself, he 
mounted his horse and .rode on south. During the 
trip he heard of the battle of Pittsburg Landing. 
On a Sunday morning he rode up to a little country 
meeting-house, and with his horse's head inserted 
at the door, called out to the clergyman who con- 
ducted the service that a battle was going on at Pitts- 
burg Landing, and he had been sent out in search of 
stragglers who were badly needed in the Confederate 
army. He was informed by the clergyman, who dis- 
continued the service for the purpose, that there were 
no such in the house. " He lied," said Pike, in tell- 
ing of the episode afterwards, 44 for I saw two or 
three skulkers slip out the back door." 



280 OHM SB Y MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Pike's account was taken with some allowance, 
bat a few days after a Hunts ville paper was cap- 
tured, in which the adventure was given in an arti- 
cle headed " A bold Yankee," substantially as he 
gave it, with the exception of mentioning the alleged 
skulkers who slipped out the back door. Pike re- 
joined the command on the march. 

It might naturally be expected by the enemy that 
no advance in force could take place till the rebuild- 
ing of the Murfreesboro bridges had been effected, 
and that this would require a month or six weeks. 
Having built them in ten days General Mitchel pos- 
sessed an important element of surprise. He broke 
camp on the morning of the 9th of April. There 
was not a man in the division except himself, not 
even one of his staff, who knew the destination of 
the command. He marched rapidly south to Fay- 
etteville, some twenty miles. Two Confederate offi- 
cers had been sent to Fayetteville the day before to 
be passed through the lines. Under the guise of see- 
ing them safely through, but in reality for the pur- 
pose of gaining information, General Mitchel sent 
Lieutenant Dobb of his escort, with some twenty 
mounted men, through with these officers to Fayette- 
ville. The sight of Yankee soldiers was too much 
for the rebellious spirit of the Fayettevillians, and 
the Confederate officers were obliged to sit up all 
night to protect Lieutenant Dobb and his men from 
the fury of a mob. About noon the next day, while 
the citizens stood about sullenly watching the entry 
of the Yankees, the general, at the head of his staff, 
rode into the public square of Fayetteville. 

The division quickly passed through Fayetteville 
without halt. One brigade had been left at Shelby- 



HUNTS VILLE. 



281 



ville, now another was left at Fayetteville. It is 
hardly proper to call the force at this time a division, 
for it consisted of the 8th brigade, the 4th Ohio 
cavalry, and Simonson's battery. 

On the morning of leaving Fayetteville, some citi- 
zens were brought to General Mitchel with important 
information. 

" They have been fighting at Pittsburg Landing." 
"And the result? " 

" The first day the Confederates drove the Yankees 
to the river, where, protected by the gunboats and 
reinforced by BuelPs army, they turned and drove 
the Confederates." General Mitchel stopped thought- 
fully for a few moments. It made considerable dif- 
ference to him which side had been defeated. Then 
he put spurs to his horse and rode on. 

The division encamped south of Fayetteville on 
the night of the 9th. On the morning of the 10th 
the troops again took up the line of march south- 
ward. By this time the men began to suspect that 
this continued tramping meant a forced march, and 
that something was to be done. 

At dusk that evening a halt was called at a point 
ten miles north of Huntsville. Mounted scouts in 
the advance picked up and brought in every person 
they met, in order that no information of the ap- 
proach of the troops should be given. The daily 
mail from Huntsville, travelling along the road, was 
picked up, and like everything else disappeared within 
the bosom of the advancing army. From dark till 
two o'clock the command slept on their arms. This 
tjme was one of deep solicitude to the general. He 
did not close his eyes all night. Negroes arrested 
by the scouts kept coming in, and were brought 



282 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



directly to him. At twelve o'clock a negro came in 
who reported that five thousand troops had reached 
Huntsville the preceding day, and that his master as- 
serted that they knew of the approach of our troops, 
and were waiting to receive them. Five thousand 
troops to meet, and twenty-five hundred miles south 
of the Ohio River, in the very heart of the Con- 
federacy, with four thousand men ! This did not 
look very bright for the execution of the plan. The 
general declared that he believed the negro's story 
about the troops having arrived at Huntsville, but 
he did not credit the fact of their knowing of his 
coming. 

During the night he organized detachments of 
cavalry with specific orders for their action in the 
morning. The first was to break to the left upon 
reaching a point four or five miles north of Hunts- 
ville, cut the telegraph wires and tear up the railroad 
track. The second was to perform a similar work on 
the left. The third was to seize the telegraph office 
with, all the despatches, in case an entrance into the 
city were effected. The general visited every bivouac 
in person, and told his men that the morning's work 
was to be of the greatest importance. 

At two o'clock, according to the general's orders, 
the men were aroused without sound of drum or 
trumpet. They were quickly and quietly awakened 
by their officers, and the line of march was taken up 
in perfect silence. For the rest of the night they 
marched like an army of spectres towards the city 
where they hoped, at least, slept peacefully its inhabi- 
tants. Nothing was heard except the occasional rum- 
ble of artillery across a bridge, or at a stony part of 
the road. It was a drowsy army. They had marched 



HUNTSV1LLE. 



283 



forty miles, in about forty hours. A little hamlet, 
Meridian ville, was passed on the road. Its people were 
buried in sleep. Not a light or a head appeared at a 
window. The next day they were surprised to learn 
that an army had passed through during the night. 

And now the gi'ay dawn of a beautiful summer 
* morning reveals the sloping hills, among which is 
buried the charming little city of Huntsville. What 
he was to find there was a matter of great anxiety 
to the general, upon whose shoulders rested the re- 
sponsibility of the move, for which he had no order 
and for which, in case of disaster, he would be alone 
to blame. Suddenly a party of cavalrymen, armed 
with picks and crowbars, dash off through a field to 
the left. Another dashes off to the right. These 
are the parties intended to tear up the track and pre- 
vent the escape of rolling stock. The march begins 
to be more hurried. 

The advance guard is within four miles of Hunts- 
ville. Two mounted citizens, early risers, come trot- 
ting along the road, northward, unconscious of any 
danger. They are seized and hurried to the general. 

" Are there any troops in Huntsville ? " 

" No considerable force." 

" Are your citizens aware of our coming ? " 

"No, sir." 

Artillery is ordered to the left and to the right, 
toward the railroad. On the left the railroad runs 
for a few miles parallel with the turnpike on which 
the army is approaching. A locomotive whistle is 
heard, — then the boom of a gun. This is hunting 
big game with big guns. A locomotive comes slowly 
steaming along the track. It seems to scent danger. 
It puffs and snorts, not knowing whether to go back- 



284 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



ward or forward. Finally, it dashes on and escapes. 
Then whistles are heard shrieking all along the 
track. Another tries to escape : another boom of a 
gun. The engineer is killed and the machine taken 
possession of. 

On the west of the city the track-tearing party is 
equally successful. Not a locomotive escapes from 
that side. The telegraph wires are also cut. 

Onward pushes the advance cavalry towards the 
city, some three miles distant, and with it the gen- 
eral and his staff. Sashes are thrown up along the 
road, and citizens in their night clothes look out on 
the rising sun and on the beautiful country covered 
with the verdure of early summer, and on the less 
peaceful cavalry dashing rapidly along the road. 
They have been awakened by the guns in the loco- 
motive hunt, and are wondering in a bewildered 
manner what it all means. 

The advance cavalry enters the town and makes 
straight for the telegraph office. A detachment 
seizes the depot, making prisoners of several hun- 
dred Confederate troops who are caught passing 
through the city. They are marched off under guard. 
Then comes one regiment of infantry after another, 
marching into town with drum and fife, playing 
" Yankee Doodle." 

The city had been captured without the use of a 
pound of powder, except to shoot engines. At the 
count, the game-bag was found to contain fifteen lo- 
comotives and eighty cars. 

General Mitchel had marched his men fifty-seven 
miles in forty-eight hours. But by their rapid move- 
ments they had possessed themselves of more com- 
fortable means of transportation for their future 



HUNTS VI LLE. 



285 



operations. In their next move they were whirled 
along after a locomotive. 

Now came the second part of the plan. General 
Mitchel at once placed Captain Yates in charge of 
the railroad as superintendent, and ordered him to 
make up two trains without delay, the one to carry 
troops to Stevenson, the other to Decatur. 

There was no want of cars and such appurtenances 
as are required to operate a railroad. The road was 
in fine condition ; the depots, water and wood sta- 
tions, turn-tables, engine-houses, locomotives and cars 
were all in prime order. The road did not cease to 
be operated ; it simply changed hands. The work- 
men employed by the Confederate government, who 
went home the night before from their labors in the 
machine shops, either came back to work for Uncle 
Sam in the morning or were replaced by Yankee 
mechanics. 

Colonel Turchin was placed in command of the 
expedition to Decatur. His train started on the 
evening of the occupation of Huntsville. The tele- 
graph wires had been cut, and it was not likely that 
the guard at the bridge would get news of his com- 
ing. This proved to be the case. The train loaded 
with troops steamed over the twenty-five miles and 
was stopped a few hundred yards from the rear end 
of the bridge. Fortunately the ground was such that 
it could not be seen ; yet it certainly would not have 
been suspected of being a Yankee train. The men 
left the cars and advanced at a double-quick to the 
bridge. As soon as the guard discovered them it 
fled, attempting to fire the bridge as it retreated 
across. But the Yankees were too quick for them. 
They put out the fire, followed the guard across the 



286 OEMS BY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



bridge, to discover the tents of the force on the other 
side left vacant, with a warm breakfast on the tables. 
The west end of the bridge was protected by a cot- 
ton bale fortification. But being unprotected on the 
hither side, this fortification would have been useless, 
as our men could have fired the bridge. 

The next morning a train was prepared with one 
thousand men for the expedition to the left. .This 
train had a longer distance to traverse. It was more 
than eighty miles to Bridgeport and seventy to 
Stevenson. General Mitchel accompanied it in per- 
son. The escaped locomotive 1 had undoubtedly car- 
ried the news of the entrance of the Union forces 
into Huntsville, and it was supposed that some re- 
sistance would be made on this end of the line. The 
train steamed rapidly over the road, stopping occa- 
sionally, but coming in sight of the depot at Steven- 
son early in the afternoon. Here it was wise to 
move cautiously. A battery might suddenly open 
and sweep the train. 2 The locomotive was driven 
slowly along, till at last the train drew up to the 
depot. The general stepped off on the platform, and 
without a shot held in his possession the last point 
necessary to the safety of his troops. 

1 This escaped locomotive reached Chnttanooga at noon of the 
same day of its escape. The engineer reported that they had heen 
fired on by the artillery and had seen cavalry, and gave the impres- 
sion that the capture was a raid. 

2 No other such advance over an enemy's railroad directly into an 
enemy's country was ever made during this or any other war. It was 
a perilous novelty. ... At every bend an ambush might be found, 
or an armed train sent out by the Rebels, to learn why no trains or 
telegrams came from Huntsville, might bear down upon them, and 
cause a frightful accident. ... A timid general would never have 
undertaken such a run. He would have preferred to advance on foot, 
or at least to keep cavalry guards ahead of the train, and in conse- 
quence would have encountered far more real danger. — Daring and 
Suffering. 



EUNTSVILLE. 



287 



In a few moments the general stepped again on 
the train and ordered the engineer forward. About 
seven miles from Stevenson he came upon a railroad 
bridge about one hundred feet long. If destroyed, no 
train could pass through Stevenson Junction north 
until it should be rebuilt, which might require the 
Confederates, with their poor equipment, several 
weeks. Here the general concluded to pause. Or- 
dering out combustibles, they were soon placed under 
the bridge and lighted. Then he sat down on the 
track and watched it burn. It was the realization 
of hopes formed while he sat over the maps with 
General Buell at Louisville months before. 

While the flames were consuming the bridge, he 
again got aboard the train and backed it to Stevenson. 
Here he left Colonel Sill in command with a small 
force, and mounting the locomotive, detached from 
the train, with several members of his staff, started 
back for Huntsville. He was anxious to be again 
at his central point. The engineer, a young fellow 
who had been at work on the road previous to its 
capture, and who had been pressed into the United 
States service, was directed to drive on rapidly. 
Night came, and the locomotive with its party was 
running through a hostile country, and trouble was 
not unlooked for. The engineer held the throttle- 
bar, with his head out the cab-window, his eye being 
kept on the track. While steaming at the rate of 
thirty or forty miles an hour over an embankment, 
he suddenly drew in his head, pulled back the throt- 
tle-bar, and, pale as death, stood waiting without 
speaking. In a moment a jar was felt ; the engine 
ran a little way and stopped. The party dismounted 
and found that a tie had been wedged in between the 



288 RMS BY MAC KM GET M1TCHEL. 



ties of the road and the track, with a view to throw- 
ing the locomotive down the embankment. The es- 
cape was miraculous. The iron pilot was bent clean 
under the locomotive as if it were straw. 

Late that night the general reached Hunts ville, 
and doubtless slept a refreshing sleep. 

General Mitchel's movement took place at that 
period of the war when it seemed impossible for the 
government to induce any of its commanding gen- 
erals to move without elaborate preparation, and the 
utmost caution. Grant, a subordinate like Mitchel, 
was the first to break this sluggishness at Henry and 
Donaldson. Mitchel's move was the second change 
of the war from the prevailing stagnation. It was 
received with great delight at the North, one news- 
paper speaking of it as marking a " new era of gen- 
eralship in this war." The thanks of the War De- 
partment were at once telegraphed General Mitchel, 
and President Lincoln promoted him, to date from 
the 11th of April, to be Major-General of Volunteers, 
" for gallant and meritorious services in the capture 
of Huntsville, Decatur, and Stevenson Junction ; " 
and he was ordered to report his movements di- 
rectly to the War Department every day. 

Upon receipt of the news of his promotion, General 
Mitchel at once recommended those of his colonels 
who were in command of brigades to be brigadier- 
generals, and the members of his staff each and all 
for an advance. The promotion of the colonels was 
delayed till some time afterwards, and there was no 
law of the general government for the promotion of 
those staff officers who held commissions in the line. 



X. 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 

It is requisite to pause here in recounting the oper- 
ations under General Mitchel's personal direction to 
sketch briefly the Andrews expedition 1 sent out to 
burn bridges in Georgia. This expedition has be- 
come known far and wide as the one incident of the 
war especially noted for romantic, daring adventure. 
Men had before chased each other, on foot and on 
horseback, in wagons, but never was a military raid 
made on a locomotive, and the raiders pursued over 
long miles of rail by an enemy similarly mounted. 
And thus far it is the only instance in the history of 
war. 

There is still another feature. It has been claimed 
that the expedition was a part of a plan of General 
Mitchel of very great importance, and intended not 
only as an auxiliary for his own occupation of the 
territory he seized, but to prepare the way for the 
occupation of East Tennessee, without the necessity 
of calling for any considerable force. It has been 
argued that he directed Andrews to burn the bridges 
between Atlanta and Chattanooga, but to spare the 
great bridge across the Tennessee River at Bridge- 
port ; that he would then advance upon Chattanooga 
over this bridge, and occupy it ; while Gen. E. K. 

1 This account is based on Daring and Suffering, a narrative of the 
events of the expedition, by the Rev. William Pittinger. 



290 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



Smith, threatened by General Morgan on the north, 
and Chattanooga being lost on the south, would be 
obliged to abandon East Tennessee to the vast major- 
ity of Union sentiment known to exist there at the 
time. 

There is something so fascinating in such remark- 
able results to be accomplished by a mere handful of 
men, as to dazzle the imagination of the coldest rea- 
soner on the military problem involved. What pos- 
sibilities occurred to General Mitchel in case the ex- 
pedition were successful, cannot now be known. 1 His 
eye doubtless swept over as broad a range as existed, 
but beyond the possible accomplishment of a protec- 
tion from the burning of the bridges on his left, in his 
move on Huntsville, the matter must have appeared 
to him entirely contingent. Andrews's success would 
be Mitchel's gain. Andrews's failure would not in- 
volve MitcheFs success. 

Though the possibilities of the expedition as a 
thread leading to a chain of great results were re- 
markable, the contingencies were very numerous. 
Andrews might return as before, without making the 
attempt. He might make the attempt and fail. He 
might succeed in burning the bridges he intended to 
burn, and spare the one across the Tennessee. Grant 
that he would succeed in doing the latter, Mitchel 

1 This expedition was of the nature of secret service, and General 
Mitchel died without knowing anything about the attempt as given 
here. He was very much moved when it was reported to him that all 
had been captured, and hanged at Chattanooga, a statement which was 
not true. He never spoke about the expedition or its purposes to any 
of the members of his staff now living. Such connection as is now 
known to have actually existed between General Mitchel and the 
Andrews party is entirely due to the testimony and researches of the 
Rev. William Pittinger, who accompanied the expedition. 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



291 



was at Stevenson to meet him ; but it would have 
been no difficult matter for a Southern general to 
destroy the Tennessee bridge, and thus prevent Mit- 
chel using it. Grant that the bridge could be saved 
to Mitchel. Then with the rebel communication cut 
between Chattanooga and Atlanta, if Mitchel had 
been suddenly reinforced with a few thousand men, 
considering the panic into which that portion of the 
country had been thrown, he might have compelled 
the evacuation of East Tennessee. And here arises 
the last contingency : would the force have been given 
him ? Considering General Halleck's views, and 
General Buell's caution, it is hardly probable. 

Before the starting of the expedition, W. W. 
Brown, who was to be the first engineer 1 when the 
train should be captured, was ordered by his colonel 
to report in person to General Mitchel in his tent. 
He has thus described the interview that followed : 2 

I handed the general a note from the colonel, which he 
read and was silent for a moment. Then he said: " This 
is a dangerous mission you are going on, and the utmost 
caution will be necessary on the part of all of you." He 
next questioned me on my competency to run an engine. 
I answered all his questions, and he then asked if I had 
any papers to show. I drew from my pocket a paper 
signed by the master mechanic of the Mobile and Ohio 
Railroad, on which I had run in 1860, a year before the 
war, and other papers from other roads on which I had 
been employed. He carefully read them all, and said they 
were sufficient on that point, adding : " On you rests a 
great responsibility. You are the first engineer selected to 
take charge of the engine, but there will be a reserve of 
two others from the other regiments." I was about to 
leave him, when a sudden impulse led me to say : " General, 

1 Wm, Knight was appointed second engineer. 

2 Daring and Suffering. 



292 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



I would very much like to ask you two questions about 
this expedition, if you will permit me." He very frankly 
said : " You are at perfect liberty to ask any question bear- 
ing on this matter." Then I said : " What is the object of 
this raid?" He answered: "To destroy the bridges over 
the main lines of the enemy's communications. It will go 
far to separate their armies, and put them at our mercy." 
I said : " But what do you think of our chances of success?" 
" That depends upon circumstances," he replied. "If the 
enterprise can be carried out as planned by Mr. Andrews, 
I think the chances very good indeed ; but if any delay 
happens, the difficulty will be increased." I asked : " Why 
so, General?" He answered: "Because, as the armies 
draw nearer, the roads will be more occupied with troops 
and stores moving back and forth, and these will be in your 
way." Then again pausing for a minute, he continued: 
" Your mission is very hazardous. It is not pleasant for 
me to send such a number of picked men into the enemy's 
power ; but in war great risks must be run, and we are en- 
gaged in a war of right and wrong. Armed treason must 
be met and conquered ; and if you fall you die in a glorious 
cause. I have great confidence in Mr. Andrews, your 
leader. I trust that the Great Ruler of the destinies of 
man will protect you all." He grasped my hand, and ter- 
minated the interview. I never saw him again. 

It is evident from this interview that General Mit- 
chel had weighed the chances himself, and regarded 
the success of the expedition as possible but hazar- 
dous ; that he laid great stress on the attempt being 
made in time, and that he expected the destruction 
of the bridges would " go far to separate their lines 
and put them at our mercy." That it would be at 
least a temporary protection to his left, if on the de- 
fensive, after capturing the region he then intended 
to seize, is evident to any one. 

Andrews met his men after dark in a wood with- 
out the limits of the town of Shelby ville, and while 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



293 



a rising storm muttered and flashed in the distance, 
gave them their instructions. They were to break 
into small squads, go eastward into the Cumberland 
Mountains, and thence to the Tennessee River ; cross 
to Chattanooga, and there take passage on a train 
for Marietta, Georgia. These instructions were suc- 
cessfully carried out ; but very heavy rains induced 
Andrews to believe that Mitchel would be delayed. 
He determined to fix the date of his attempt one day 
later. Here he made the fatal mistake of his life. 
Had he had a more intimate acquaintance with Gen- 
eral Mitchel, he would have known, with so impor- 
tant a fixed object in view as was before him, the 
chances of delay were almost nothing. 

The different members of the party reached Chat- 
tanooga on the 11th, and found the people much 
exercised over the news of the battle of Shiloh. 
Mitchel had occupied Huntsville that morning, but 
unfortunately Andrews did not hear of it. They all 
boarded the evening train for Atlanta, and at mid- 
night reached Marietta : there dividing themselves 
between the two hotels of the place, they went to bed. 

A little before day Andrews went about waking 
up the men, who gathered in his room for instruction. 
He informed them that they would go on the train 
soon to arrive to a station called Big Shanty, where 
the train would stop for breakfast, and where there 
was no telegraph office. There they were to attempt 
the capture. 

When the train came by it was boarded by the 
men, and shortly after reached the station where 
they designed to put their plan into execution. The 
conspirators could see the white tents of a guard 
which had recently been stationed at the place, and 



294 



ORMSBY 



MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



on which they had not calculated, and sentries pacing 
back and forth. When the train stopped, the con- 
ductor, Mr. William A. Fuller, the engineer, fireman, 
and most of the passengers, Trent in to breakfast. 
All except the leader kept their seats, while he went 
forward to reconnoitre. He was followed by Engi- 
neer Knight. The locomotive stood alone. Between 
the baggage car and the engine were three box cars. 
Andrews directed Knight to uncouple between the 
baggage cars and the last box car. He then went back 
and gave the order to the men waiting in the passen- 
ger cars to come forward. Brown and Wilson, the 
other engineer and fireman, darted forward and took 
their post beside Knight, while the men scrambled 
into the box cars. All this while a sentry was stand- 
ing not a dozen feet from the engine quietly looking 
on. Last of all Andrews stepped on board and nodded 
to Knight. The valve was pulled open, and the 
little train shot forward. 

It is impossible to consider the position of these 
men — a long distance of railroad between them and 
safety, the gibbet behind them, most of them shut up 
where they could neither hear nor see — without a 
holding of one's breath. To such as could dare to 
engage in such an attempt, danger must be like an 
intoxicating drug. Their sensations have been de- 
scribed as u whole years of enjoyment condensed into 
a single moment." 

The steam was low in the engine, and before they 
had gone a great way speed began to slacken, and at 
last the train came to a standstill. While the fireman 
poured oil and threw wood into the furnace, others 
got down and cut the telegraph wire and obstructed 
the track. While waiting, Andrews went back to 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



295 



reassure the men in the box cars, whose feelings were 
under the most intense strain at the delay. 44 When 
we have passed one more train," he said, 44 we '11 have 
no hindrance, and then we '11 put the engine at full 
speed, burn the bridges after us, and dash through 
Chattanooga to Mitchel at Huntsville." 

The first point of importance reached was the 
crossing of the Etowah River. Here on a side track 
stood a locomotive fired up and ready for use. An- 
drews neither attempted to destroy the bridge nor 
the locomotive. The firing of the bridge was not in 
the original plan; the local 4 'freight" was due, and 
Andrews may have feared being surprised, and placed 
in a worse position than if he left both as they were. 
He continued on his way to Cass Station, where he 
stopped to take on wood. To those standing about 
the station, and to whom it was necessary that he 
should make some explanation for thus appearing 
with Fuller's engine, he said that he had been ordered 
by General Beauregard to 'press a train and have it 
loaded with powder, and take it through with light- 
ning speed to Corinth. Andrews acted with consum- 
mate coolness, both on the road and at the stations, 
directing the engineer not to run too fast for safety, 
and ordering about the railroad officials as if he were 
the president of the road. At Cass Station he pro- 
cured a time-table from the tender, who never for a 
moment suspected his true character. 

At Kingston a branch road from Rome connected 
with the main road, and the morning train was due 
from that place. The raiders reached Kingston a 
little ahead of time. The local 44 freight" due on the 
main line had not arrived. Andrews switched his 
train on to a side track beside the passenger train 



296 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



which had arrived, — again pointing to his box cars 
as a powder train. It was necessary to await the 
coming of the freight train, and while he was wait- 
ing he was obliged to act with perfect coolness and 
adroitness to avoid suspicion. In this his success was 
remarkable. 

At last the train appeared. To the horror of An- 
drews and his engineers, it bore a red flag, a signal 
that another train was coming behind. The con- 
ductor brought the news of the capture of Huntsville, 
and that the Confederates were running away all the 
rolling stock to keep it from the enemy. The im- 
portance of MitcheFs warning against delay was now 
apparent. They were face to face with the very 
obstacle that he had predicted. There seemed noth- 
ing to do but await the passing of the next train, 
and while they are waiting a glance may be taken 
at the action of those who were left at Big Shanty 
Station. 

When the engine moved out, the conductor, Mr. 
Wm. A. Fuller, and others who were at breakfast 
with him, heard the sound of escaping steam. They 
jumped from the table, and Fuller and one or two 
trainmen started after the retreating train on foot. 
After a run of two miles they found a hand-car, and 
jumping upon it drove it to the Etowah River, where 
stood the engine " Yonah " fired up and ready for 
use. Abandoning the hand-car, they took the engine 
and steamed to Kingston. 

Fuller, taking the engine of the Rome train that 
he found at Kingston, which was a better machine 
than his own, lost no time in renewing the pursuit 
of the fugitives, who had left Kingston and were now 
at Adairsville. 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



297 



Meanwhile Andrews and his party had left Adairs- 
ville for Calhoun, nine miles distant. This run was 
made at a frightful risk. At any moment he might 
meet the passenger train from Chattanooga. Never- 
theless he crowded on all steam, the engine, swaying 
and rocking on the track, sprung forward like the 
wind, making the distance of nine miles between the 
stations in seven and a half minutes, and this on a 
Southern railroad of 1862. When they came in sight 
of Calhoun the passenger train was just moving out. 
Andrews blew his whistle, and the train backed on 
to a side track ; but being very long, overlapped and 
stopped the way on the main track. 

Again the party was delayed, but after explana- 
tions, the obstruction was removed and they pro- 
ceeded on their way towards the Oostenaula bridge, 
no great distance ahead. This they were to burn, 
and then pursuit from the rear would be impossible. 

On the road Andrews heard more of the operations 
of General Mitchel and the panic he had created. 
He was told that the Yankees appeared to have cap- 
tured all Confederate trains on the Western road, so 
that for twentv-four hours no train had arrived, and, 
telegraphic communication being interrupted farther 
and further eastward, Mitchel was evidently coming 
to Chattanooga. 

The party had stopped, before coming to the Oos- 
tenaula bridge, to take up a rail. While at work they 
heard the shriek of a whistle behind them. It was 
the first of a number of trains that had by this time 
joined in the pursuit. Andrews and his men re- 
mounted and sped away. The pursuing engine was 
soon close behind. Andrews dropped a car. Fuller 
saw it and reversed ; then coupling it on, proceeded. 



298 ORMSBY UACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Andrews now came upon the bridge. He was too 
late to burn it ; Fuller was pressing on at full speed ; 
all that could be done was to drop a car on it, and 
the party sped on towards Resaca, throwing out ties 
from a hole in their rear car to obstruct the track. 
Passing a wood station they stopped and took on 
more wood, though not daring to stop long enough 
to gain more than half a supply, and from a water 
tank soon after took in all the water they needed. 

At Dalton, which they were now approaching, the 
road branched, one road leading to Chattanooga, the 
other to Cleveland. Dashing through the depot at 
the imminent risk of collision with cars standing 
on side tracks, they stopped a mile beyond and cut 
the telegraph wire. But it was a second too late. 
Fuller had picked up an operator, and a warning mes- 
sage had just passed to General Leadbetter at Chat- 
tanooga. As a last resort the party attempted to 
take up a rail, but a whistle from the pursuing en- 
gine warned them that it was too late. 

Andrews now ordered the firing of the last car for 
the purpose of leaving it on the Chicamauga bridge 
which they were approaching. The men fell to work 
to whittle kindling with their knives, some fagots 
were taken from the engine, and the car was soon in 
a blaze. The bridge was a large one and covered, 
and it was hoped to fire it. When they reached it 
they stopped for the purpose of uncoupling. As they 
pulled the pin the smoke of the pursuing engine was 
again seen. Unfortunately the bridge was wet. The 
car burned well, but was slow in communicating its 
flame. The pursuers pushed right on. Andrews and 
his men drew off a short distance and watched the 
success of their forlorn hope. Fuller steamed on to 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



299 



the bridge, pushed the burning car before him from 
under the cover and put it on a side track. 

It was now evident that all was lost, and that the 
party must either stand together and fight or take to 
the woods. Andrews decided on the latter course 
and ordered the men to break up, and for each man 
to take care of himself. The locomotive was aban- 
doned, and its captors pushed out in different direc- 
tions. 

Here ends the expedition. All were captured, and 
after passing through terrible sufferings, Andrews 
and seven of his men were hanged. Six more es- 
caped, and the rest were, after a long period of dreary 
confinement, exchanged. Of those who escaped, two, 
a month after, reached the Union lines at Corinth, 
two reached Kentucky, and two worked their way 
down the Chattahoochee River to the blockading fleet 
on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Soon after General Mitchel's occupation of Hunts- 
ville the enemy sent him news of the disaster. They 
reported that Andrews and all his men had been exe- 
cuted at Chattanooga. This was doubtless to avoid 
retaliation, which Mitchel might threaten in case he 
should know the truth. 

It is easy now to look back and point out what 
would have been wise action at the time, in the dif- 
ferent decisions Andrews found himself called upon 
to make. But it was different then. The delays of 
armies in war are proverbial, and Andrews had good 
reason to believe that Mitchel would not reach 
Huntsville on the day he expected. His decision to 
delay cannot be called unwise, and it was simply 
an error. Again, had he disabled the " Yonah " or 
burned the Etowah bridge, he would probably have 



300 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



succeeded in his attempt. Thirdly, it is plain now 
that when delayed at Kingston he should have gone 
forward, pushed back the coming trains to side 
tracks, and thus avoided delay. Lastly, he should 
have kept bis party together. They were at no great 
distance from Stevenson, and could easily have gone 
through in a body. But Andrews was no soldier. 
His methods all lay in concealment. Had he pos- 
sessed, with his wonderful ability in this direction, 
the instincts of a soldier, he might have attained a 
far different result. 

Long after, when General Mitchel had passed from 
all earthly duty, the remnants of this remarkable 
combination of nerve, seldom if ever got together 
before, and never for any such work, were exchanged 
and sent to Washington. They were received by the 
Secretary of War with great distinction ; their wants 
were supplied, and each was decorated with a medal 
in commemoration of their bravery and their sacri- 
fice. He who would have listened to their tale with 
the deepest interest, was where no earthly voice could 
reach him. 

Before taking leave of that portion of General 
Mitchel's operations which pertains to the seizure of 
the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, let us take a 
view of a most singular picture of motion over a very 
extended field. Within twenty-four hours, three dif- 
ferent parties were moving upon three different parts 
of the road. On the evening of the 11th, Colonel 
Turchin had started westward to pass through De- 
catur towards the army at Corinth. On the morning 
of the 12th, Mitchel was moving towards Steven- 
son. At the same hour Andrews was flying from 



THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. 



301 



Big Shanty Station towards Huntsville. Each of 
these parties moved with rolling stock captured from 
the enemy over a section of railroad two hundred 
and fifty miles long, and situated at no point less 
than three hundred miles south, of Union territory. 
While all this was taking place on the railroad, that 
portion of the division which had been left behind 
was advancing towards the centre. 

The force actually employed was not four thou- 
sand men, and, including the reserves, for active op- 
erations not over seven thousand. Surely so great 
an undertaking, such varied motion, ought to satisfy 
even so restless a man as General Mitchel. 



XI. 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 

General Grant has said in his Memoirs : " The 
most anxious portion of the war to me was daring the 
time the Army of the Tennessee was guarding the 
territory acquired by the fall of Corinth and Mem- 
phis, and before I was sufficiently reinforced to take 
the offensive." It seems natural that a man whose 
disposition leads him to seek success and safety by 
striking his enemy, should not feel in his element 
when on the defensive. The rash man plunges with- 
out forethought into danger, or sleeps quietly in the 
midst of surrounding foes. The true leader knows 
his risk, and is always on the alert. From the mo- 
ment General Mitchel paused to watch the burning 
bridge beyond Stevenson, the last act required to in- 
sure his safety, till the day he left Huntsville, he was 
in a state of inquietude. He was so far in the en- 
emy's territory ; so many of the troops of his little 
army were required to protect his rear ; the country 
about him was so hostile. There was a circle line 
about him from Knoxville far north and east of him, 
through Chattanooga, thence west to Tuscumbia, 
thence north to Franklin and Columbia, and Nash- 
ville, joining at the commencing point, Knoxville, 
through which an enemy might at any time penetrate, 
and crush his little force, or cut it off and capture it. 
To meet all this, to provide against the attacks of 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 303 



small guerrilla bands, he had with him, beside the force 
left by General Buell at Nashville, but six thousand 
or seven thousand effective troops, including only five 
hundred cavalry. If half his force had been cavalry, 
the matter would have been much easier. He relied 
on three things : First, the enemy could not operate 
against him except in force ; secondly, he did not 
believe the enemy had the force to spare ; thirdly, 
if any serious attempt were made to dislodge him, 
all the available tooops about Nashville and his own 
could be concentrated at a given point in the territory 
to be defended. 

The Confederate General E. K. Smith, in command 
in East Tennessee, in reporting General Mitchel's oc- 
cupation of Huntsville, to Richmond, said : — 

General Maxey, with three regiments and a battalion, 
passed through Huntsville the day previous to its occupa- 
tion by the enemy. The three armed regiments between 
Bridgeport and Chattanooga were to have completed the 
reinforcements intended for General Beauregard. My own 
command not being large enough for offensive movements, 
and feeling that on the fate of the army at Corinth hung 
the fate of East Tennessee, I felt justified in ordering this 
force to General Beauregard even before being called upon 
by him for reinforcements. 

General Beauregard telegraphs that six regiments from 
Femberton's command are en route for Chattanooga. He 
suggests a movement from that point, taking the enemy in 
reverse at Huntsville. I could add four regiments, making 
an effective force of five thousand or six thousand effective 
men, but the destruction of the road west from Bridgeport 
renders the operation of artillery on that line impracticable. 
A demonstration of five thousand infantry towards Hunts- 
ville might alarm Mitchel, but no decisive results could be 
reasonably anticipated. The advance of a force from 
Kingston by Sparta is the strategic move, offering the 



304 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



greatest results and the most practicable in operation. I so 
telegraphed General Beauregard, notifying him of the de- 
struction of the bridges on the Memphis road, and giving 
him an opportunity to countermand the order to the South 
Carolina regiments, and to direct them to reinforce him by 
the Montgomery and the Mobile and Ohio roads. 

On the day General Mitchel entered Huntsville, 
General Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing and 
assumed command in the field. Commanding General 
Buell's force, Halleck became commander of the 
troops under Mitchel. Mitchel would of course look 
to General Buell for his orders, but for the ensuing 
three months General Halleck was supreme in the 
West. 

As soon as Mitchel returned to Huntsville from 
Stevenson he took up the telegrams captured in the 
telegraph office to look them over. There was among 
them one suspicious - looking document in cipher. 
Huntsville was a repeating station, and it was likely 
that the despatch might have been passing from one 
important point to another, and repeated in the 
Huntsville office. At any rate it was worth decipher- 
ing. As it was a simple letter cipher, this was not 
difficult. The mysterious document was laid on a 
pine mess-table, and was very soon translated by the 
general, with an occasional hint from some member of 
his personal staff. The words at the head and to 
the left were evidently the address, and those to the 
right, the place of sending and the date. The words 
"To," "Corinth," and 44 April " were soon inter- 
preted. Then followed "Genl" and "Richmond 
Va." With so much of the alphabet it was easy to 
construct the rest of the cipher. The following is a 
copy : — 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 305 



Corinth, April 9. 1 
Whikalv, Ndirt 9. 

To Genl. Saml. Cooper,— 
Lh Zyat Jnrt Whhdyi, — 
Richmond, Va. 
Irwvrhap, Mn. 

All present probabilities are that whenever the 
Ntt diyjyal dihmnmrtrlryj niy Ivnl cvyaymyi Ivy 
enemy moves on this position he will do so with an 
yayre rhmyj ha lvrj dhjrlrha vy crtt ph jh crlv na 
overwhelming force of not less than eighty - five thou- 
hrnyicvytvraz xhvwy hx ahl tyjj lvna yrzole - xriy lohk- 

sand men. We can now muster only about thirty - five 
jnap rya. By wna ahc vkjlyi hate nghkl lorite - xrmy 

thousand effectives. Van Dorn may possibly join us 
lohkjnap yx2!wlrmgj. Mna Phia vne dhssrmle shra kj 

in a few days with about fifteen thousand more, 
ra n xyc pnej crlo nghkl xrllyoa lohkjnap vhmy. 
Can we not be reinforced from Pemberton's army. If 
Wna cy ahl my vyraxhuwyp xihv dyv92ilhaj nrve. Rx 

defeated here we lose the Miss. Valley and probably 
pyxynlyp vyiy cy thjy loy Mrjq Mnt3ye nap dihgnxte 

our cause ; whereas we could even afford to lose 
hkr wnkjy ; cvyiynj cy vvhktp ymya nxGhip lh thjy 

for awhile Charleston and Savannah for the purpose 
xhi ncvrty Wonityjlha nap Inm2a571 xhi loy dkvShjy 

of defeating Buell's army, which would not only insure 
hx pyxynlraz 2kytxj nive, cvrvvv chktp ahl hate yajkvy 

us the valley of the Miss, but our Independence, 
kj cvy mnt3ye hx Ivy Vrj9 qkl hki rapyd789n9w7. 

G. T. Beauregard. 

Z. L. Qynkvyznvp. 

General Mifcchel thought he saw in this despatch 
the key to the situation for General Halleck in com- 
mand of the army before Corinth. So important did 

1 This despatch found its way into the Southern papers, where it 
met the eye of General Lee. He suggested to General Cooper that 
he change his cipher. 



306 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Mitchel consider it that he forwarded a copy of it by 
three different routes, in order to make sure of there 
being no failure in its reaching its destination. Gen- 
eral Halleck did not seem to place much value upon 
it. At any rate he never acknowledged its receipt. 
He spoke of it to the War Department as "inter- 
cepted despatches." Some ten days after, Pope's 
army joined Halleck, giving him an effective force of 
thirty thousand fresh troops. His army then num- 
bered seventy-five thousand effectives. Had he in- 
augurated a move at once, he had sufficient troops to 
effect the capture of Corinth without serious loss or 
delay. 1 

Being temporarily protected from any attempt to 
cut him off by rail on his left, by the burning of the 
bridge beyond Stevenson, General Mitchel began to 
push forward on his right, with a view to opening 
communication with General Halleck's army at Pitts- 
burg Landing. Colonel Turchin was directed to 
push forward with a portion of his brigade at Decatur, 
and on the morning of the 16th of April he occupied 
Tuscumbia and Florence. To hold the whole line of 
the Memphis and Charleston road from Bridgeport 
to Corinth now required that some central point be- 
tween Decatur and Corinth be occupied in force. 
The Florence bridge had been destroyed by the en- 
emy i hence no small force could occupy Tuscumbia 
with safety, there being no safe retreat across the 
river in case of attack. But there was nothing to 
prevent its being occupied by a sufficient force to 
keep the road open, and hold its position till it could 

1 General Grant, in his Memoirs, says : " I am satisfied that Corinth 
could have been captured in a two days' campaign commenced 
promptly on the arrival of reinforcements after the battle of Shiloh." 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 



307 



be reinforced in case of attack, or retreat on its sup- 
ports either east or west. 

General Mitchel was so anxious that this should 
be done, that he not only sent despatches to General 
Bnell, strongly recommending it, but sent his own 
chief of staff Captain Prentice, and Lieutenant Wil- 
liams, by the railroad to represent the matter at head- 
quarters. The locomotive on which they left Hunts- 
ville became disabled and they failed to get through ; 
but the despatches were received. The matter was 
referred by General Buell to General Halleck, who 
decided adversely, but suggested that Mitchel keep 
an outpost at Tuscumbia. The absurdity of this 
proposition was very soon demonstrated. Colonel 
Turchin and his little force at Tuscumbia came very 
near being cut off by the enemy, who were tempted 
by the landing of one hundred thousand rations sent 
up the Tennessee River to feed Mitchel's army as he 
had requested, and landed at Florence. Fortunately 
T urchin's force and the rations were both withdrawn 
in safety. 

By the failure to occupy Tuscumbia, the generals 
at Corinth had deprived Mitchel of his ability to 
hold the railroad south of the Tennessee River, and 
to threaten the rebel army at Corinth in rear as he 
had hoped. The bridge at Decatur was now at the 
mercy of the enemy. General Buell had ordered 
General Mitchel to destroy the Bridgeport bridge if 
possible, and the Decatur bridge as soon as he should 
leave it. Mitchel had no troops to defend the De- 
catur bridge in case the enemy chose to send a suffi- 
cient force to possess himself of it. He sent repeated 
telegrams protesting against the abandonment of the 
road, not only to the generals at Corinth, but to the 
War Department : all to no purpose. 



308 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Meanwhile there was trouble on the left. The 
enemy had burned two railway bridges — the one 
across Mud and the other across Crow Creek — be- 
tween Huntsville and Stevenson, thus cutting Gen- 
eral Mitchel's communication with Stevenson. Heavy 
spring rains had flooded the country, and Mud and 
Crow Creeks were much swollen. It was plain that 
the enemy could rebuild the bridge that Mitchel had 
burned seven miles beyond Stevenson, and cut him 
off by means of the Nashville and Chattanooga Rail- 
road. Their railroad communication was perfect to 
throw a force from Georgia or from East Tennessee 
across the Bridgeport bridge, thence, with the burned 
bridge restored, to Stevenson and northward. The 
burned bridge could be rebuilt by a competent force 
in less than a week. 

Noticing one day a man fishing on a cotton bale 
which floated in the Tennessee River at Decatur, the 
idea occurred to the general that this cotton, which 
had been used by the enemy for a fortification and 
lay now scattered about at Decatur, could be made to 
serve for a pontoon bridge. He at once had it trans- 
ferred to Mud Creek, and commenced a process of 
casing the bales in wood and splicing them together. 
He proposed to build a bridge that would take him 
past the intervening creeks to Stevenson, and thence 
on to Bridgeport, the junction of the Tennessee 
River and the Memphis and Charleston Railroad 
east of him, which point he was desirous to seize. 
This work required his personal attention. At 
Bridgeport he would be more than a hundred miles 
from Decatur. The Decatur bridge was a large and 
important structure, and might at any time become 
of great advantage to the enemy, should he possess 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 



309 



himself of it, and then throw a force across the Ten- 
nessee River. Controlling the bridge, he would con- 
trol an avenue of offensive operations and of retreat. 
General Halleck had determined not to utilize it on 
his part ; the only remaining use was for the enemy. 
Mitchel had delayed to obey General Buell's orders 
to burn it, till he could recommend such action as 
would save it and the road leading west from it. 
Since he had used every effort to alter this decision, 
since he could not leave a sufficient force to guard it, 
and had an enemy to take care of one hundred miles 
to his left, there was no further excuse to leave it 
standing in face of General Buell's order. The De- 
catur bridge was fired. 

While it was burning, the bridges at Crow and 
Mud Creek, between Huntsville and Stevenson, were 
being replaced. The cotton bales, having been in- 
cased, were thrown across the river and spliced to- 
gether in the form of an arch to resist the current. 
The work on the first of these bridges, according to 
General Mitchel's exact way of stating it, was com- 
pleted in twenty -four hours and twenty minutes. 
Two regiments of infantry first passed over it. Then, 
as it did not seem to give under the load of dis- 
mounted men, a company of cavalry tried it. The 
result still proving satisfactory, a section of artillery 
was sent over. Here the crossing ended, for there 
was nothing more to cross. 

After the building of this bridge, 1 Colonel Sill, in 
command, found a scow with which to make a cross- 
ing of Crow Creek, and the remaining bridge could 
be built more at leisure. 

1 General Grant, a year afterwards, used cotton bales for the same 
purpose. 



310 OEMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Meanwhile General Mitchel had sent his trusted 
scout, Corporal Pike, 1 towards Bridgeport to get such 

1 The following letter from Corporal Pike was written on the day 
General Mitchel was prostrated by an illness from which he never 
recovered. Had he received it he would most assuredly have com- 
plied with the request contained in it, for he owed to Pike the infor- 
mation which enabled him to surprise Bridgeport : — 

Clifpburne Hospital, Ward No. 1, 
Washington, D. C, October 26, 1862. 
Maj.-Gen. O. M. Mitchel : — You will remember that I left 
Huntsville, according to your orders, on the 23d of April last, to 
make a scout in the vicinity of Bridgeport town. On the way I fell 
in with Lieutenant Christ, and travelled with him as far as Bellefonte. 
Having arrived there we found the place had been deserted by our 
troops. Lieutenant Christ, having already exceeded his orders, re- 
solved to return to Huntsville. This left me in the vicinity of a large 
rebel force and alone. Knowing that I could not traverse the coun- 
try on horseback without great danger, I resolved to finish the scout 
on foot. So I sent my fine horse back to the regiment, in care of 
Lieutenant Christ. After they had been gone about an hour a train 
arrived at Bellefonte, loaded with our troops and part of the 4th Ohio 
regiment (cavalry), under command of Major Driesbach, who in- 
sisted that I should take a horse and finish the scout ; that you had 
given him orders to proceed to Bridgeport to burn the big bridge, 
and that I was to afford him all the assistance in my power. I pro- 
ceeded to Bridgeport, accompanied by Lieutenant Crane, with twenty 
men as far as Stevenson. Here they turned back three miles and 
camped for the night. I kept on alone to Bridgeport and attempted 
to enter General Leadbetter's camp (Confederate), but was defeated 
by the high water in the lagoon, between Widdens Creek and Bridge- 
port. I then went to a house close to where they were building the 
railroad bridge over Widdens Creek, and within five hundred yards 
of their pickets, where I obtained all the information necessary to the 
capture of Bridgeport. I then returned the same night to where 
Lieutenant Crane camped, and gave him the report to be delivered 
to you in person, and no one else. The next morning I went back to 
locate the rebel camp and get the lay of the roads, of the creeks and 
the crossings. While engaged in this occupation I got into a fight 
with nine rebel pickets. I killed one sergeant and received sixteen 
rounds from a double-barrel shot-gun for my pains, at the distance of 
forty yards. A battalion of Tennessee cavalry, composed of five 
companies, under command of Colonel Starnes, being at only a short 
distance from me, at the firing came down on me at a charge. Well 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 311 



information as would enable him to surprise the 
force at the bridge. This information was secured 
and brought back by Lieutenant Crane of the 4th 
Ohio cavalry. 

Upon the completion of the cotton bridge General 
Mitchel went in person to attack the Confederate 
force under General Lead better, at Bridgeport, and 
capture the bridge. He advanced about two thou- 
sand infantry, two companies of cavalry, and a sec- 
tion of artillery by the railway, until he arrived at 

— I had to run. The fight occurred about daylight. After running 
me till after nine o'clock at night, and that, too, over five of the 
highest mountains of Tennessee, I finally sank exhausted at Terry's 
House, near Anderson's depot, on the Nashville railroad, where I 
was soon surrounded by Captain Haines' company, when after a 
sharp scuffle between his first lieutenant, a corporal, and a private, I 
was finally disarmed and bound hand and foot. 

This is the history of my capture. It is needless to go on in the 
particulars of my after treatment. Suffice, I was taken to Knox- 
ville to be hung, but owing to the intimation you gave them that you 
would hang twelve of their men, 1 they saw proper to avert the execu- 
tion. I was taken then to Mobile, then to Tuscaloosa, from there to 
Montgomery, and from there to Macon. At Tuscaloosa I was cut 
down with pneumonia, together with typhoid fever and dysentery, all 
at the same time, and have not seen a well day from that day to this. 
After, I arrived at Washington city, unable to stand alone, covered 
with lice, with no other clothing than two ragged, filthy shirts and 
one pair of drawers to match. I was parolled at Richmond, subject to 
exchange, and it is my earnest desire that you should have me ex- 
changed as soon as possible and transferred to your command, as I 
could not serve any other general with such singleness of heart as 
I could yourself; as no other general has shared hardships and dan- 
ger with a common soldier, as I have known you to do ; besides, 
general, and I hope it is not vanity, I have believed that you reposed 
entire confidence in me. 



Believe me, sir, your obedient servant, 

James Pike. 

To Maj.-Gen. O. M. Mitchel, 

Commanding at Port Royal, S. C. 

1 There is no other record of this threat. 



312 



ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT M1TCEEL. 



the bridge he had burned after occupying Stevenson. 
Here, four miles from Bridgeport, he met the en- 
emy's outposts. After driving them, and giving the 
appearance that he was advancing by the railway, he 
suddenly threw his force across the country about a 
mile, to a road that led from Stevenson to Bridge- 
port, dragging the artillery by hand. On the way 
it was necessary to construct two small bridges. 
While so doing the general threw his own escort 
forward as scouts. They met the enemy's cavalry 
videttes, and drove them from the Bridgeport road, 
forcing them to take a road which led to Jasper. 
Then he advanced to a wood a few hundred yards 
from the bridge, and quietly drew up his force in line 
of battle. The first the guard at the bridge knew of 
his coming was seeing a line of infantry advancing 
upon them. They made no resistance whatever, 
scampering across the bridge in haste. 

At Bridgeport an island is crossed by the railroad, 
forming two bridges, the one on the west, the other 
on the east side of the island. The rebels were at- 
tempting to burn the west bridge when the general 
called for volunteers, who rushed across and saved it. 
They attempted to blow up the east bridge, but fail- 
ing, succeeded in firing it. On the island were found 
two six-pounder guns and some arms which had been 
left in the hurry of departure. 

The enemy were not only surprised but astonished. 
Some forty or fifty of their cavalry near by, hearing 
the firing, rode up through a field to learn what was 
the matter. They did not seem to know who our 
forces were. A shell was dropped into their midst, 
which relieved them from further doubt. 

The retreating force sent a parting salute from the 



TUSCUMBIA AND BRIDGEPORT. 



313 



other side of the river, in the shape of a shell, before 
proceeding to Chattanooga. A few days later some 
of General Mitchel's scouting cavalry penetrated 
some twelve miles towards Chattanooga. They cap- 
tured some Southern mail, and brought back news of 
the fall of New Orleans. It was reported to them 
that the Confederate force in that city was to be sent 
to Corinth, and that a heavy force would be thrown 
across the Tennessee River, without a train, to sub- 
sist on the country, with a view to compel the aban- 
donment of Northern Alabama. 

Upon the capture of Bridgeport, in reporting the 
matter to General Buell, Mitchel said, " Holding the 
main bridge we can move to the other shore whenever 
it may be deemed advisable." But his force was so 
small that he could not keep any considerable body 
of troops at Bridgeport. Colonel Sill, who had been 
left in command there, asked for more cavalry. Gen- 
eral Mitchel had no more cavalry to give him. He 
had but four hundred or five hundred fit for duty 
from Bridgeport fco Decatur. He therefore directed 
Colonel Sill to make his headquarters at Stevenson, 
leaving a cavalry outpost at Bridgeport, supported 
by two companies of infantry. 44 We are too widely 
separated," he said, 44 and subject to the danger of 
losing our bridges." 

In the meanwhile, General Buell had telegraphed 
(April 19) : 44 1 telegraphed you some days ago in re- 
gard to the importance of destroying the bridge over 
the Tennessee River beyond Stevenson, and also the 
Decatur bridge, as soon as you should leave it. By 
that means you could be withdrawn almost entirely 
from that line. I hope you will be able to accom- 
plish the former without great difficulty or delay." 



314 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



With nothing but a small cavalry outpost at 
Bridgeport, General Mitchel did not dare to risk leav- 
ing the main bridge standing there in face of these 
positive orders from General Buell. He was there- 
fore reluctantly compelled to obey. He communi- 
cated with the government before doing so, for on 
May 3d he telegraphed the Secretary of War, " As 
there is no hope of an immediate advance upon Chat- 
tanooga I will concentrate my lines." And on the 
same date he telegraphed General Buell, "Not hear- 
ing from you, in obedience to your orders I have di- 
rected the destruction of the Bridgeport bridge." 1 

1 On April 13th General E. K. Smith telegraphed General Leadbet- 
ter not to destroy this bridge unless it became necessary. At that 
time six Confederate regiments had been ordered to Chattanooga. 



XII. 



HOLDING THE GROUND. 

All through the term of General Mitchel's service 
in the West his mind was filled with one main idea 
for the suppression of the rebellion. This was the 
cutting of the principal railroad lines of the rebels, 
and breaking up the Confederacy into separate parts. 
From the day of his entrance into Huntsville, and 
through the following May and June, he was look- 
ing for the fall of Corinth and the removal of Buell's 
army to Huntsville with a view to active operations 
eastward. Chafing at the delay, his mind was con- 
tinually dwelling upon the territory of East Tennes- 
see and Georgia. He would converse familiarly with 
his staff as to all that might be effected with a flying 
column, of perhaps twenty-five thousand men, with 
which he would cross the Tennessee, cut loose from 
his base, and march upon Georgia. Or he would 
spend hours over the map, meditating on the most 
available points of attack. Rome, Dalton, Atlanta, 
became familiar words, and his anticipations even 
reached the eastern coast with sufficient force to 
threaten Richmond in the rear. 

In a telegram to the Secretary of War on May 6th, 
he asked : — 

Is it not possible to give me reinforcements to enable 
me to march on Rome ? That entire region is now com- 
paratively unprotected and very much alarmed. 



316 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



No force was ever given him. It was the policy of 
the government to give every available man to the 
two prominent commanders, General McClellan and 
General Halleck. Indeed there was a constant call 
from these generals for troops, and whenever Mr. 
Lincoln signified a wish that any force might be de- 
tached from the armies of either, he was met with 
vigorous opposition. 

The light thrown upon the situation as it existed 
then, by history, the indifference and discouragement 
of the Southern people, especially in the West, the 
defencelessness of the Cotton States from Mitchel's 
position, now clearly indicate that the plan was not 
so wild as might then have been supposed, and the 
great excess of General Halleck's army at Corinth 
above General Beauregard's force, shows clearly that 
all General Buell's troops 1 might have been spared 
for operations eastward. 

Reports of the enemy's forces marching against 
the little body of men at Huntsville were incessant. 
From the time of the occupation of Northern Alabama 
for two months reports of the advance of bodies of 
the enemy, numbering from one thousand to ten thou- 
sand men, were constantly coming in. They came 
all day and all night. An aide was detailed each 
night to receive the telegrams, and if there was any- 
thing requiring immediate attention, to awaken the 
general. These reports usually came from the rear. 

The cavalry force attached to the advance posts 
from Decatur to Stevenson was so small in number 
that it was necessary to gain some other means of in- 
formation as to the crossing of the Tennessee River 
1 Beauregard's force was not over 50,000 ; Halleck's 120,000. 



HOLDING THE GROUND. 



317 



by the enemy, between these points. The general 
directed the outposts to secure the services of negroes 
on the plantations along the river banks to watch for 
any crossing of troops, and bring in the information 
to headquarters. It was not long before a cordon of 
negroes stretched along the whole length of the river 
line, ready at a moment's notice to mount one of their 
number and send him flying to Huntsville. It was 
not a rare sight to see a negro dash up to headquar- 
ters on a horse covered with foam, and gasping for 
breath. 

" They 'se cumen, massr ! " 

" Where ? " 

" Crossen de riber." 

" How many ? " 

" Three hundred thousand ! " 

" Then it is all up with us ; we can never resist 
that force." 

It would probably turn out that some thirty guer- 
rillas had made a crossing. The uneducated outpost 
did not know the difference between thirty and three 
hundred thousand. Still the watchfulness of these 
negroes was invaluable. Information of all that was 
going on far away in the heart of the Confederacy 
could not be had, at least not with any reliability or 
at all times, and Mitchel did not know when a rebel 
force might be pushed past him and strike far in his 
rear before he could even know of its proximity. As 
long as he could use the negroes for information he 
felt comparatively secure. 

There was however a difficulty in the way of this 
use of negroes. While at Nashville General Mitchel 
had received a communication from General Buell 
with reference to some slaves who found refuge within 



318 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



the lines of his division, and Buell had then in- 
structed him : "In future you will permit no fugitive 
slaves to enter or remain within your lines." This 
obstacle, together with the fact that Mitchel had 
nothing to do with the disposition of troops in his 
rear, made his position anything but enviable. He 
had desired Generals Duffield and Negley, then com- 
manding in his rear, to place a regiment at Pulaski. 
General Buell would not consent to such change of 
the disposition of his forces. One day John Morgan, 
seeing a convenient opportunity, swooped down on 
the train loaded with supplies for Mitchel's division, 
and captured it. He burned a large supply of rations, 
and captured a good number of prisoners. General 
Mitchel at once communicated with General Buell, 
and with the War Department, objecting to being ex- 
pected to hold so hazardous a position in the advance, 
without command of his own line of communications. 

In his letter to the Secretary of War he took up 
the matter of using the negroes for information, and 
then turning them back to their masters as the letter 
of General Buell's order instructed. Indeed this 
question had extended to the officers and soldiers of 
the 3d division, and had created a great deal of 
murmuring. One day during the occupation of 
Huntsville, several officers came to General Mitchel's 
tent and laid their swords on his table, declaring that 
they could not obey the obnoxious order. General 
Mitchel was at that time harassed by the order him- 
self, but he knew that the position assumed by these 
officers thus declining to obey a military order was 
untenable. In fact, under a strict construction, it 
was mutiny. There was something very trying in 
the position to Mitchel, and it produced one of those 



HOLDING THE GROUND. 



319 



singular effects not easily understood except by those 
who knew him intimately. " Gentlemen," he said, 
sweeping their swords from the table, " return to 
your duty, and if you have any protest to make, 
hand it in in writing and I will forward it." The 
officers, not understanding this outburst, withdrew in 
confusion. It probably saved the necessity of a court- 
martial. 

About these matters Mitchel thus wrote Secretary 
Stanton : — 

I am exposed on a river front of over one hundred and 
twenty miles. I have not under my command a cavalry 
force of over five hundred effective men. I am compelled 
therefore to resort to means which under any other circum- 
stances I would not use. The negroes are our only friends, 
and in two instances I owe my own safety to their faith- 
fulness. I shall very soon have watchful guards among 
the slaves on the plantations bordering the river from 
Bridgeport to Florence, and all who communicate to me 
valuable information I have promised protection of my 
government. Should my course in this particular be dis- 
approved, it would be impossible for me to hold my posi- 
tion. I must abandon this line of railway, and Northern 
Alabama falls back into the hands of the enemy. No rein- 
forcements have been sent me, and I am promised none 
except a regiment of cavalry 1 and a company of scouts, 
neither of which have reached me. I shall esteem it a 
great military and political misfortune to be compelled to 
yield one inch of the territory we have conquered. With 
a few more troops, or even with a better disposition of 
those supporting me between my line and Nashville, I can 
bid defiance to the enemy. If he attempts to cross the 
river anywhere in force, I shall learn the fact and am able 
to punish him ; but I believe this is the first instance in 
the history of war when a general has been deprived of the 
command of his own lines of supply and communication. 

1 This regiment never came. 



320 OEM SB Y MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



To this Secretary Stanton telegraphed in reply: — 

No general in the field has deserved better of his coun- 
try than yourself, and the Department rejoices to award 
credit to one who merits it so well. The Department is 
advised of nothing that you have done but what is approved. 
The assistance of slaves is an element of military strength 
which under proper regulations you are fully justified in 
employing for your security and the success of your opera- 
tions- It has been freely employed by the enemy, and to 
abstain from its judicious use when it can be employed 
with military advantage would be a failure to employ 
means to suppress the rebellion and restore the authority 
of the government. Protection to those who furnish in- 
formation or other assistance is a high duty. 

The troops in Mitchel's rear were then placed un- 
der his command by General Buell. The troops con- 
tained in the district of Middle Tennessee and North- 
ern Alabama were about eighteen thousand effectives. 
At any rate they might all be called effectives except 
the cavalry, which had been galloping back and forth 
from one place to another so long, that there was 
scarcely a serviceable horse in the whole district. 

This change was quite beneficial. Indeed the dis- 
trict might as well have been a separate department. 
General Halleck paid little or no attention to General 
Mitchel, and at times seemed to have forgotten him 
altogether. " I have not heard from General Buell 
or General Halleck for two weeks," Mitchel said on 
the 6th of May in a telegram to Secretary Stanton ; 
and had it not been for the order he had received to 
report direct to Washington, he would have had a 
lonely time. Had his region been made a separate 
department, and one half the surplus troops of Hal- 
leck's over Beauregard's army given him, he would 
have started for Savannah. 



HOLDING THE GROUND. 



321 



Scarcely had the gust of Morgan's raid passed than 
Colonel Turchin at Athens reported a rebel force of 
from three thousand to five thousand, preparing to 
cross the river, with, six pieces of artillery, to attack 
his command. General Mitchel did not credit the 
report. His own scouts were out, but reported only 
rumors. However, he ordered two regiments from 
Huntsville to Athens. On the next day the enemy 
was reported crossing above Florence, and again at 
Lamb's Ferry. The reports came so thick and fast 
that General Mitchel began to look for other re- 
sources than his few scouts and the negroes, to 
bring him information. The negroes made admi- 
rable watchers, but their information as to numbers 
was not reliable. 

He concluded that it was necessary for him to have 
a gunboat with which to patrol the river. No regular 
boat could pass the shoals to come far enough up the 
Tennessee River for the purpose ; besides, if he asked 
the government for a gunboat the war might end be- 
fore he could get it. He found an old mule ferry- 
boat. This he patched up, and mounting a gun for- 
ward set her afloat under the name of the " Gunboat 
Tennessee." There is something ludicrous in the mil- 
itary gravity with which he gave his instructions to 
its commander. When one considers the immense 
resources that were placed at the disposal of other 
generals, and the makeshifts of Mitchel, working with 
nothing except what he could improvise, there is 
something more than ludicrous in this order. It is 
pathetic : — 

Captain : You are placed in command of the gunboat 
Tennessee, now lying at Whitesburgh. You will find one 
piece of artillery on board the boat. You will take on 



322 



RMS BY MA C KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



board a crew of armed river men from your own company 
such as you may deem necessary. You are also authorized 
to take on board volunteers from the detachment of the 
15th Kentucky, now at Whitesburgh. Go prepared for 
any emergency to work your boat should the horses or 
mules be killed. 

The Gunboat Tennessee did good service. Steam 
soon replaced the mules, and the peculiar-looking craft 
continued to patrol the river till General Mitchel left 
the country. 

The following letters give some quaint pictures of 
General Mitchel's daily life at Huntsville, and his 
views as to the progress making in the prosecution 
of the war : — 

Camp Taylor, Huntsville, Apr. 22, 1862. 

I have just returned from visiting my guards. My bat- 
tle steed was a magnificent locomotive which swept me 
along at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It was rather 
funny to see my pickets drawn up and come to " present 
arms " as I went flying past. Occasionally I stopped and 
addressed them a few words of instruction and encourage- 
ment. The news of my nomination for promotion reached 
me yesterday afternoon, and has given great satisfaction to 
the entire division. It is to me most unexpected, and I 
appreciate it the more coming at the recommendation of 
the Secretary of War, whom I do not know. It is all well 
enough and will no doubt gratify you at home, but if it 
brings me no more troops and no broader field of action, I 
care little for it. 

I am just now constantly occupied. My long railroad 
line, and the great distances separating my troops, the 
scarcity of provisions and forage, and the immense distance 
to haul, and the rains and floods, keep me very active to 
make all go right. 

I see by the newspapers that my friends in the west and 
east are anxious for the safety of my division. I do not 
fear the enemy, either on the one hand or the other. From 



HOLDING THE GROUND. 



323 



towards Chattanooga they may come possibly in sufficient 
force to move me, but I think not. My outposts are sixty 
miles in advance, and my locomotives and telegraph wires 
are very swift and my men on the alert. 

We are doing a sort of gigantic " Morgan " business, 
with this difference: that our warfare is legitimate, his 
is not. The Union feeling is growing in our rear, and 
even in Murfreesboro the old flag has been hoisted by the 
citizens, and they promise to fight in its defence. We are 
to have a flag-raising at Athens, on one of my railroads, in 
a day or two. We now have regular trains running, and 
a printed time-table ; a splendid machine-shop in full action, 
and all the railroad offices in complete order. 

I have numerous most affecting interviews with ladies 
whose lords are in the rebel army, or profess their devotion 
to the Southern confederacy. They all claim the property 
of the concern to be their own, and not their husbands'. 
Indeed, I begin to think the husbands a poor miserable set 
of beggars, for the wives own everything, horses, planta- 
tions, negroes, and all 

Huntsville, May 22d. 
How I do long to see this war ended ; and how slow 
our generals do seem to move ! There is General Halleck 
now for nearly two months making twenty miles. 1 It 
should have been done in two days. Gen. Sidney Johnson 
marched out of Corinth, attacked our troops, defeated them 
on the 6th of April, was himself defeated on the 7th, and 
yet the rebel army retreated in good order over these very 
roads that General Halleck has found impassable for nearly 
two months 

I was interrupted just here, and so my letter has lain 
over until 6 a. m., 23d. And I am now writing in the 
midst of a grand concert of birds, with a splendid bouquet 
on my table. Among the flowers a gorgeous magnolia, 
half as big as your head. The morning is cool and beauti- 
ful, the weather delicious, and the country charming. But 

1 Compare with Grant's opinion, page 306. 



324 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



I am a little like old John C , " I would much rather 

stay where I am acquainted.." 1 

We have all sorts of expeditious on foot against roving 
bands of the enemy's cavalry and " bush whackers " who 
infest the country. It is all a very small business, and I 
am growing very tired of such duty. It is six weeks to- 
day since I entered Huntsville, and the predictions north 
and south that I was to be driven out have not been veri- 
fied. I believe I can remain as long as I please. 

1 This refers to a story of one making a similar reply, when very 
ill, to a friend who was picturing the beauties of heaven. 



XIII. 



WAYS AND MEANSo 

General Mitchel was virtually military gov- 
ernor of his district. He was the only authority 
within a hundred miles of him north, east, and west 
to whom civil questions could be referred. The mat- 
ter of seizure of supplies from citizens, the punish- 
ment of crime, and many similar questions, he was 
constantly forced to act upon. In all matters which 
his authority as major-general commanding did not 
cover, he telegraphed or wrote at once to Washing- 
ton, 1 receiving authority before acting. 

A matter which especially engaged his attention 
was an order through General Buell, issued by the 
government to commanders, to give every facility to 
buyers of cotton. This order of the government was 
a matter of civil and international policy. General 
Grant has said in his Memoirs, that the gold the peo- 
ple of the South got for their cotton was of more 
value to them than the cotton was to the North. 
But this was not a question for any general to de- 
cide. Mr. Lincoln was alone responsible for the act. 
He was not only considering the matter in a military 
point of view, but with reference to the attitude of 
foreign nations ; and the wisdom with which Mr. 

1 These matters were arranged directly with the respective depart- 
ments at Washington, and -not through General Buell, on account of 
the frequent difficulty of communication. 



326 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Lincoln managed the political and diplomatic affairs 
of the government is one of the definite features of 
the history of his administration, of which time is 
not likely to change men's opinions. 

But General Mitchel had a special reason for open- 
ing the cotton trade, which concerned his own posi- 
tion on the line of the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad. The running of his trains was a neces- 
sity. But no railroad can be operated without funds. 
There were many skilled operatives required, and no 
money was furnished by the government with which 
to pay them. Whether the authorities at Washing- 
ton had got used to expecting General Mitchel to 
improvise everything he required, or whether they 
had no money to give him, does not matter. At any 
rate, they left his quartermaster entirely without 
funds. 

While at Murfreesboro some negroes reported to 
General Mitchel's commissary, Captain Paul, that 
the Confederate army in crossing Stone River had 
dropped a safe. Paul was directed to raise it. Con- 
federate army reports found in it showed that it 
belonged to the Confederate government, and its 
contents were liable to confiscation. The other con- 
tents were $8,000 in Confederate bonds and $150 in 
Confederate money. Most of the money was given 
to the negroes who gave the information, and Cap- 
tain Paul, being offered sixty cents on the dollar 
by Confederate citizens with more confidence than 
prudence, sold the bonds for $5,020. Had Paul 
sent the bonds to Washington they would have, 
probably, been there yet. A few weeks afterwards 
he could have replaced them for five cents on the 
dollar. 



WAYS AND MEANS. 



327 



All this money was used by the quartermaster to 
pay the hands on the railroad, but it would not last 
always. Still no funds came through the regular 
channel, and General Mitchel found it necessary to 
raise more funds or stop his trains, which virtually 
meant an abandonment of the territory. He was al- 
ways fertile in expedients, and in casting about for 
ways and means, hit upon the cotton which had been 
used by the Confederate army for breastworks for 
the Decatur bridge, and consequently subject to con- 
fiscation to the government of the United States. 
It did good service as a pontoon bridge, and then 
Mitchel conceived a plan for turning it into funds 
for army purposes. 

It was about this time that the order came to open 
the cotton trade. Could he so facilitate matters that 
buyers would come to Huntsville, he might sell this 
government cotton and thus replenish his quarter- 
master's exchequer. But there were several difficul- 
ties in the way : first, for purchasers to come to 
Huntsville for cotton was not only a great pecuniary 
but a personal hazard ; secondly, there was no trans- 
portation north for any cotton they might purchase. 
Mitchel wrote to New York to connections there, to 
persuade a party to come to Huntsville to purchase 
cotton, promising that he would give them all the 
aid in his power. A party of several gentlemen was 
organized, but one of them, being captured by Mor- 
gan at Pulaski, determined that operating in cotton 
in Tennessee and Alabama was an extremely hazard- 
ous undertaking, and went back to New York and so 
reported. 

In the mean time a gentleman, a stranger to Gen- 
eral Mitchel, Mr. J. H. Clark, came into Mitchel's 



328 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



tent one morning and told the general that he had 
come through with $20,000 in his pocket, at the im- 
minent risk of losing it. 

" You are a brave man," said General Mitchel, 
" and I will give you every facility in my power for 
the purchase of cotton, and to transport it north after 
the purchase." 

There was railroad transportation all the way to 
Louisville, except a distance of twenty or twenty-five 
miles. Over this gap wagons were hauling supplies 
for Mitchel's army, coming south loaded, and return- 
ing empty. General Mitchel gave directions to his 
quartermaster to transport cotton for buyers over this 
gap, over which they would otherwise pass empty, 
charging for the government a fair price. Then his 
quartermaster sold the cotton used by the enemy 
in the fortifications at Decatur and afterwards by 
Mitchel for his cotton bridge, realizing some $18,000. 
Thus he went on running his railroad without fear 
of being hampered for funds. The party of buyers 
whom he had induced to come from New York ar- 
rived too late to take advantage of the inducements 
he had offered them. Each step had been reported 
to the Secretary of War, or to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, before taken, and had been approved. 

Had General Mitchel had more worldly wisdom, he 
would have abstained from having anything to do 
with the sale or transportation of cotton. It is suf- 
ficiently difficult for men in prominent places to pre- 
vent malicious attack, even by observing the greatest 
prudence. General Mitchel relied upon the purity 
of his intentions, and upon reporting beforehand all 
he proposed to do to the Secretary of War and the 
Secretary of the Treasury. But in his desire to ac- 



WAYS AND MEANS. 



329 



complish results he showed a trait which had been 
with him all his life — a want of foresight in laying 
himself open to attack. There had been one who 
had made it a constant study to remedy this defect. 
But that one was not with him now. 



XIV. 



CHATTANOOGA. 

All the world now knows how General Beaure- 
gard, with a force but half as large as that opposed to 
him at Corinth, by instructing his men to cheer on 
the arrival of empty trains to transport his army 
south, and to keep up their camp-fires till the rear 
guard had retreated safely, accomplished the evacua- 
tion in face of General Halleck. And everybody 
now knows that General Grant was with General 
Halleck's army, without power, a witness to General 
Beauregard's escape. But it was not known then, 
and all over the North General Halleck's praises 
were sounded, from the Secretary of War down to 
the street gamin who sold accounts of the exploit. 

After the evacuation General Halleck spent some 
time in trying to find out where the enemy had gone. 
Then it was decided to send Buell's army eastward. 
And now this road suddenly springs into importance 
in the eyes of General Halleck. What he failed to 
see in April he sees only too clearly in June ; but, 
strangely enough, forgets that it was from his own 
decision. He at once ordered General Mitchel to re- 
build the Decatur bridge, and telegraphed to Wash- 
ington the following despatch : — 



CHATTANOOGA. 



331 



To the War Department. 

The destruction of the Decatur bridge by General 
Mitchel was a most foolish operation. If that had not been 
done, we could have had a connection with him in one week. 

And again, on June 7th : — 

To the President. 

Mitch el's foolish destruction of bridges embarrassed me 
very much, but I am working night and day to remedy 
the error, and will very soon reinforce him. 

Here is Mitchel's comment on the order to rebuild 
the Decatur bridge. He then knew nothing of Hal- 
leck's strictures upon him. 

Now Generals Halleck and Buell order me to rebuild 
these bridges, and to send them engines and cars as early 
as possible. I obey orders, of course, and do it most cheer- 
fully, but I cannot but regret that any such orders are re- 
quired. The occupation by General Buell of Tuscumbia 
on the 20th of April last (I entered it on the 16th) would 
have given great strength to me, would have saved both 
the great Tennessee bridges, would have threatened the 
enemy's rear, would have enabled me to destroy him on his 
retreat, and would have given us now a complete railroad 
to operate with. Now we must lose months by delay to 
rebuild and reconstruct for I fear no amount of army 
effort will suffice to rebuild the Decatur bridge in less than 
two months. 

We wait the developments of the future with deep 
anxiety. 

Then commenced that effort, which must always 
be memorable in the history of transportation of ar- 
mies, to get General Buell's army eastward to Chat- 
tanooga. General Halleck could have had the road 
entire, but had regarded it of no importance. Now 
he wished to use it for a line of supply. The enemy 



332 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



were in possession of it from Decatur to Tuscumbia 
when he ordered Mitchel to pass cars and locomotives 
at Decatur. Mitchel had no force to drive him from 
the road west of Decatur, and so told both Buell and 
Halleck. Nevertheless, he assured them that he was 
ready to obey the order whenever the road should be 
occupied by the advancing Army of the Ohio. Hal- 
leck spent a month in futile attempts to utilize the 
line, then abandoned it. Then a month after he had 
given General Mitchel the order to pass locomotives 
and cars, opened a fire of complaint to Washington 
against Mitchel for not obeying his order. 

Mitchel at once removed all obstacles to the trans- 
fer of troops by arranging a competent ferry across 
the Tennessee River at Decatur. 1 Meanwhile General 
Halleck, urged on by the President, seemed really 
anxious to get Buell's army to Chattanooga. On 
June 2d he says : — 

No time should be lost in re-establishing communication 
with Mitchel. 

And June 4th : — 

Time now is everything. There is not a moment to be 
lost in opening communication with Mitchel. 

And again on June 6th : — 

As soon as Bear Creek bridge is repaired we can open 
communications with Mitchel if the enemy should be rein- 
forced at Chattanooga. 

Now there was nothing to hinder these wishes of 
General Halleck from being speedily carried out. It 
was not seventy-five miles from Corinth to Decatur, 
a matter of four or five days' ordinary march. Once 
across the ferry there, Mitchel had railroad transpor- 
1 Another ferry was arranged at Florence. 



CHATTANOOGA. 



333 



tation for taking a considerable force to Bridgeport in 
a few days. Yet it was not till June 27th, four weeks 
after the evacuation of Corinth, that Mitchel received 
a communication from Brigadier General Garfield, 
commanding the advance brigade of Buell's army, 
announcing his arrival at Decatur, and asking for 
rations for his command. 

While Buell's army was slowly creeping towards 
Huntsville, the Confederate General E. K. Smith was 
manoeuvring with General Morgan before Cumber- 
land Gap, and with General Mitchel before Chatta- 
nooga. General Smith's headquarters were at Knox- 
ville. From there, on June 6th, he telegraphed 
through his aide-decamp, his subordinate, General 
Leadbetter, commanding at Chattanooga: — 

I am directed by the major-general commanding to ac- 
knowledge the receipt of your telegram announcing that 
all is quiet at Chattanooga. He calls attention to the im- 
portance of unrelaxed vigilance now that the enemy seems 
inactive. In his operations heretofore General Mitchel 
has encountered no regularly organized force ; he has al- 
ready shown himself an energetic commander, and his past 
success may embolden him to daring and hazardous under- 
takings in the future, in which case the commanding gen- 
eral is particularly anxious that you shall be unceasingly 
on the alert to prevent any surprise, and at the same time 
be ready to avail yourself of any opportunity by which he 
may lay himself open to attack. To this end he urges the 
absolute necessity of your maintaining a constant watch at 
all the mountain passes, and giving vigilant and unremitted 
attention to every movement of the enemy of which you 
should have accurate and reliable information. 

This caution to General Leadbetter was simulta- 
neous with a demonstration of General Mitchel on 
Chattanooga. Selecting what troops could be spared 



334 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



from the whole force under his command in Middle 
Tennessee and Northern Alabama, and placing them 
under General Negley, he directed him to move from 
Fayetteville through Winchester. Colonel Sill was 
sent with a small force to form a junction with Neg- 
ley, which was effected near Jasper. At Winches- 
ter Negley encountered the enemy's cavalry under 
S tarns, driving it, and Negley 's and Sill's united 
force afterwards met and routed another cavalry 
force under Adams. Negley, in command of the 
whole force, then moved to a point on the bank of 
the Tennessee River opposite Chattanooga, and 
shelled the city. 

General Mitchel would have been glad to occupy 
Chattanooga at this time. He was then arranging 
for the reception of Buell's force, and could not be 
at Decatur, on his right, and Chattanooga, nearly one 
hundred miles on his left, at the same time. He 
therefore left the matter discretionary with General 
Negley, in the following despatch : — 

I deem the capture of Chattanooga a matter of the 
greatest moment, hut your movements must be wise and 
cautious and prudent. Were it not for the river, I think 
there would be no hazard in attacking the enemy ; but to 
cross the river in face of the enemy, or to attempt to re- 
treat across a river like the Tennessee, are matters of ex- 
treme danger and difficulty. I have full confidence in your 
discretion and wisdom. I would gladly come to you, but 
feel that my duty just now compels me to remain at head- 
quarters. I await news from you with great anxiety. 

Both General Smith and General Mitchel were in 
the position of two subordinates, desiring to keep all 
they had and get all they could for their superiors, 
who were expected at some future time to make the 



CHATTANOOGA. 



335 



territory an important battle-ground. Smith was 
trying to hold Cumberland Gap and Chattanooga. 
Mitchel was protecting Nashville, and anxious to 
hold the Sequatchee Valley, and take Chattanooga, 
if it could be done without too much risk. Negley 
could have easily taken Chattanooga, but General 
Buell was anxious as to the safety of Nashville, as is 
seen by a despatch he sent the War Department on 
the 9th of June. 

General Mitchel by advancing to Chattanooga got some 
of his troops out of position for the security of Nashville, 
but he had already anticipated the instructions which I 
sent him in regard to it, and has recalled them. 

While Negley was shelling Chattanooga, Colonel 
Lester, commanding at Murfreesboro, telegraphed 
that the enemy, ten thousand strong, were march- 
ing on that point. General Mitchel, at Huntsville, 
was nearly one hundred miles in advance of Mur- 
freesboro, and could not investigate the truth or 
falsity of the report. General Buell was anxious 
as to Nashville, so Negley was ordered to abandon 
further operations against Chattanooga and march to 
the relief of Colonel Lester. 

In reporting this to General Buell, Mitchel regrets 
the change, and adds : — 

Tt is again my duty to report the opinion already ex- 
pressed, that we ought to occupy the Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga Railroad with a powerful force ; and if not done 
very soon, the enemy will do it. 

The same day he telegraphed General Halleck : — 

Since the fall of Corinth, the enemy, being released from 
the necessity of concentrating all his strength at that point, 
will now be at liberty to advance through Cumberland Gap 
into Kentucky from Knoxville, across the mountains, upon 



336 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

Nashville, and from Chattanooga into North Alabama. 
Pardon me if I have exceeded the limits of my duty. It 
is for me to report the facts. My force is totally insuffi- 
cient for anything more than to guard the extensive region 
over which they are spread from hostile citizens and small 
bands of the enemy. I await your orders with anxiety. 

At this time General G. W. Morgan was threaten- 
ing General E. K. Smith at Cumberland Gap. He 
desired that Mitchel be ordered to make a demon- 
stration against Chattanooga, in order that the Con- 
federate forces might be diverted, and that his efforts 
to secure the gap might be thus facilitated. Orders 
finally came to General Mitchel from General Buell 
to keep his forces in position, so far as possible, to 
threaten Chattanooga, but they came after the de- 
sired result had been accomplished. When Negley 
shelled Chattanooga, Smith evacuated the gap. When 
Negley was ordered back to Murfreesboro, Smith 
went back to Cumberland Gap, but too late. Mor- 
gan had slipped in in his absence. 

So these generals were playing a game of " cor- 
ners. " None of them had any force to accomplish 
any definite results, yet each regarded his position of 
great importance to those armies which would soon 
make the region a battle ground. Morgan held 
Cumberland Gap. Smith held Knoxville, Cleveland, 
and Chattanooga. Mitchel, the Sequatchee Valley. 
Mitchel believed that the enemy were then beginning 
to concentrate at Chattanooga, and would endeavor 
to occupy the valley. Colonel Sill, in command 
there, telegraphed him on the 21st June that the 
enemy were crossing the Tennessee in force, and 
Mitchel put some faith in the report. He did not 
think so great a delay would take place on the part 



CHATTANOOGA. 



337 



of the enemy as really occurred. The enemy were 
very slow ; had this not been the case the disasters 
that occurred later would have occurred then, for 
Mitchel had no force to meet the army that after- 
wards marched north through Chattanooga. 

So the manoeuvring went on, with one report and 
one move after another, but the great armies destined 
to occupy the country, both Union and Confederate, 
were still absent. Whichever came first would have 
great advantage, but neither came. Mitchel's anx- 
iety was very great. The game became obnoxious 
to him, and he wished to get away. On June 21st 
he telegraphed the Secretary of War : — 

I am with difficulty maintaining my position before Chat- 
tanooga. My main force is at Jasper. We thus hold the 
mountain region bordering on the Tennessee and upon the 
railroad. I hope to be able to maintain my position until 
reinforcements arrive. I respectfully solicit more active 
duty. 

The reinforcements referred to were the troops 
coming under General Buell. The Secretary did not 
understand this when he replied : — ■ 

Washington, June 21 si. 
I would gladly send you reinforcements if we had them 
to spare, but the protracted operations before Richmond 
require (in the President's opinion) that every disposable 
force should go to General McClellan. It would also 
gratify me very much to have your earnest military genius 
employed entirely in the East, but the President regards 
the advance on East Tennessee as only second in impor- 
tance to Richmond, and that you cannot be safely with- 
drawn from that field; so that the Department cannot 
gratify your wishes. 



338 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Washington, June 5, 1862. 
My dear General : — ... Most heartily do I wish 
you were in a position where your abilities and energies 
could be utilized more properly. You have done so much ; 
you ought to be permitted to do more. If I could decide 
the question you would come here at once, and be put 
where you could do most} . . . 

Your friend, S. P. Chase. 

In June, General Mitchel's family visited him at 
Huntsville. During their stay there his letters, of 
course, ceased. 

1 In the original these words are underscored. 



XV. 



GENERAL BUELL AT HUNTSVILLE. 

General Buell arrived at Huntsville on the 
29th of June, 1862. Mitchel's army of some eigh- 
teen thousand men had held the country north of the 
Tennessee River for several months, and with the 
addition of General Buell's army there was sufficient 
force to at least occupy and hold the region about 
Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Dalton. General Buell 
brought his maps to Mitchel's headquarters, a pine 
table was placed under a tree, and the two sat down 
to discuss the situation. The troops at hand, trans- 
portation, bridges, the field of operation, were all 
conned over for three or four hours by the two com- 
manders, the one having the full power for decision, 
the other being simply adviser. General Buell was 
as usual uncommunicative. General Mitchel, if he 
saw a point of vantage or weakness, could no more 
have refrained from calling General Buell's atten- 
tion to it than he could sit down and wait for the 
war to be over. At last General Buell folded up 
his maps and withdrew, without any decision being 
reached. 

The next day the consultation was renewed at 
General Buell's headquarters, and the next, for three 
successive days. On the results of the interview 
hung activity or delay, and on these hung either 
success or disaster. From the beginning General 



340 



ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



Mitchel counselled an immediate advance. During 
the whole of the interview, urged by what he be- 
lieved to be the importance of such an advance, he 
pleaded with General Buell for a quick occupation of 
the territory east, in which there was then but a 
trifling Confederate force. 

At last Mitchel induced Buell to consent to go to 
Bridgeport with him for the purpose of looking over 
the ground. " I will have a train ready for you to- 
morrow morning at seven o'clock," he said. Buell 
declined to go so soon. 

Mitchel went to his tent and wrote the following 
despatch to the Secretary of War : — 

Finding it impossible to serve ray country longer under 
my present commander, I have to-day forwarded, through 
him, my unconditional resignation, and respectfully solicit 
leave of absence for twenty days. 1 

A copy of this despatch he sent to General Buell. 

Two documents, written within a day or two of 
each other, the one by General Buell and the other 
by General Mitchel, will show how differently two 
men can look upon the same subject. The occasion 

1 When General Buell arrived at Huntsville he issued an order 
forbidding the use of army teams for the transportation of cotton. 
General Mitchel thought that it would have been more courteous to 
him if Buell had conferred with him before issuing the order, or had 
informed him of his intention, though acknowledging General Buell's 
right to act as he did in the premises. This has been assigned^ as 
the cause of Mitchel's leaving Buell's command. But after the order 
the two generals were in consultation over the military situation for 
several days. There was never such a thing as a quarrel between 
them. Indeed, General Mitchel wrote from Shelby ville, a few months 
before, referring to General Buell, " he has treated me with marked 
respect and attention." Before leaving Huntsville Mitchel called 
upon Buell at his headquarters to take leave, and they parted without 
a word of reproach on either side. 



GENERAL BUELL AT HUNTS VILLE. 



341 



of the writing of General Buell's document was 
that General Halleck had telegraphed him that 
the President was dissatisfied with his delay at mov- 
ing forward. General Mitchel's document was writ- 
ten to the Secretary of War, who called upon him 
for his plan of campaign. General Buell's is first 
given. 

BUELL TO HALLECK. 

Hunts ville, July 11, 1862. 

Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck : — I appreciate the im- 
portance of moving promptly, though it is idle to suppose 
that the enemy, with his railroad communications complete, 
and our lines difficult and broken, will not always be able 
to anticipate us at any important point. I regret that it is 
necessary to explain the circumstances which make my 
progress seem slow, though it perhaps is not to be expected 
that they should be otherwise understood. 

I understand what you have given me to do, and if per- 
mitted I expect to accomplish it without any unnecessary 
delay, and in such a manner as to neither jeopardize my 
army or its honor, nor trifle with loyal citizens betrayed to 
the vengeance of their enemies by a promised protection 
and a hurried abandonment. The advance on Chattanooga 
must be made with the means of acting in force, otherwise 
it will fail or prove a profitless and transient prize. The 
railroad communication as far as Stevenson must be securely 
established. From that point the transportation must first 
be by wagons for twenty-five miles. The river must be 
crossed by a pontoon bridge, which I am now preparing. 
It is not possible to establish the requisite communications 
by any means of ferrying which we can provide. These 
arrangements are being pushed forward as industriously 
as possible. The troops are moving forward to the ter- 
minus of the railroad without unnecessary delay, and one 
division has already arrived there. It ought to be borne 
in mind that they have had a march of about two hundred 
miles to make, with a large train, in hot weather, crossing 



342 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



a wide river by a ferry. The report 1 of General Mitchel 
led me to expect that the Chattanooga road would be fin- 
ished by the first of this month. I do not censure him for 
being mistaken. I have since doubled the force upon it, 
and it cannot be finished before next Monday. The gap 
of twenty-two miles on the Decatur road, the one we are 
dependent upon for supplies, has from the character of the 
road made it more expeditious to take another route forty 
miles longer. And it requires every wagon that can pos- 
sibly be spared to keep the troops from starving, and at 
that we are living from day to day. We consume of pro- 
visions alone about one hundred thousand pounds daily, 
which with our animals in their present condition it requires 
about sixty wagons to carry. The trip coming and going 
cannot be made going and coming in less than five days. 
Three hundred and fifty wagons are required to haul pro- 
visions alone over this gap ; to haul forage over the same 
distance even at half rations would require seven hundred 
wagons more. We are running about five hundred wa- 
gons, managing with great difficulty to subsist our animals 
mainly upon the country, already nearly exhausted of sup- 
plies. It will be seen that we cannot advance beyond Ste- 
venson until the road is completed, so as to release wagons 
now absolutely required in the rear. Three mills are 
getting out lumber for boats, which will be furnished as 
soon as possible. These are matters of fact which cannot 
be got rid of by sophistry or fair promises, however grati- 
fying. The dissatisfaction of the President pains me 
exceedingly. I request that this dispatch may be com- 
municated to him. 2 D. C. Buell, Major- General. 

1 General Mitchel had reported it as his opinion that this could be 
effected within the time specified. But had he deemed the matter es- 
sential, and had remained in the west, would probably have taken 
personal supervision of the work, as he had done at Murfreesboro. 

2 General Buell, reviewing the evidence before the military com- 
mission to inquire into his operations at this time, makes a carefully 
prepared statement of the events of this period. It will be found on 
Page 30, Pt. 1, Vol. xvi., Series 1, Official Records of the War De- 
partment. 



GENERAL BUELL AT HUNTS VILLE. 348 



MITCHEL TO STANTON. 

"Willard's Hotel, Washington, July 7, 1862. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Sec. of War. 

Sir : — At your request I present herewith a brief out- 
line of a plan of campaign recently presented by me to 
General Buell after his arrival at Huntsville. 

The railways from Memphis to Decatur, from Nashville 
to Decatur, from Decatur to Stevenson, and from Nashville 
to Stevenson, are all nearly completed. Making Stevenson 
or Bridgeport a principal depot for supplies, provisions, 
forage, ammunition, etc., could be obtained either from 
Memphis, Columbus, or Nashville. General Buell's army, 
consisting of five divisions, will number, I should think, 
forty thousand effective men. I proposed to advance a 
principal column through Chattanooga to attack (either at 
Dalton or Cleveland) the great line of railway leading 
from Atlanta through Knoxville to Richmond. A column 
of ten thousand men across the river at Bellefonte should 
advance upon Rome ; a third column, having its depot at 
McMinnville, and numbering about ten thousand, to cross 
the mountains and strike the railway about twenty miles 
south of Knoxville ; while a fourth body of troops should 
penetrate Eastern Tennessee through Cumberland Gap. 
In case either of these columns should achieve success, it 
would almost certainly insure the success of all the others. 
If, for example, Rome were taken by our troops, it would 
compel the enemy to abandon Chattanooga, and the entire 
region occupied by the railways leading from Cleveland 
and Dalton to the main stem of the Memphis and Charles- 
ton road. 

If Chattanooga should fall, and our column should ad- 
vance upon Dalton, it would co-operate directly with the 
force marching upon Rome. If Knoxville should be taken, 
the enemy would find it impossible to retreat to the south 
without danger of being captured by our troops at Cleve- 
land, or Dalton, or Rome. Should the entire army be ad- 
vanced against a single point, as for example Chattanooga, 
the enemy would then probably concentrate his whole 



344: RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



force, fortify his position, and thus check our operations 
until he could be dislodged, 1 which would be rendered ex- 
tremely difficult by the necessity of crossing the river in 
the face of the enemy. When I left on Wednesday evening 
last, about eight thousand of my own troops were in the 
immediate neighborhood of Chattanooga, without an enemy 
on the opposite side of the river capable of opposing any 
considerable resistance to their onward movement. I urged 
upon General Buell the propriety of the immediate occu- 
pation of Chattanooga. This would have drawn the enemy 
from the line of the railway extending from Bridgeport to 
Chattanooga, and would render the building of a floating 
bridge across the Tennessee at Bridgeport a matter of 
safety and certainty. I had planned this bridge, and con- 
structed one boat to determine the time necessary to con- 
struct all the boats in the entire bridge. On Tuesday of 
last week, by my orders, four sawmills in the vicinity of 
Stevenson were set to work to saw out the lumber. By 
using these mills day and night, all the lumber could have 
been cut in a few days. One hundred men could have 
built all the boats in two days, and the entire bridge could 
have been finished in six days, capable of passing infantry, 
artillery, and cavalry, and, if necessary, even a locomotive 
and cars to be placed upon the track on the other side of 
the river. With such a bridge, supplies and munitions of 
war can be furnished the army advancing from Chatta- 
nooga without difficulty. 

I suppose the column advancing from Bellefonte upon 
Rome would be furnished with ten days' rations; would 
move without camp equipage or baggage, and with no 
wagons except what would be required to transport pro- 
visions and cooking utensils. If met by a superior force, 
this column could fall back in safety, and pass along prac- 
ticable roads to unite with the main body at or near Chat- 
tanooga. In like manner the expedition from McMinnville 
would move with as little baggage as possible, and with 

1 This afterwards occurred. The enemy was dislodged at the 
battle of Missionary Ridge. 



GENERAL BUELL AT H UNTS VILLE. 



345 



ten days' rations. In case of necessity the army has a suffi- 
cient supply train to furnish additional provisions to either 
of these columns. 

Should the main body be attacked at Chattanooga by a 
superior force, the nature of the country is such as to ad- 
mit of a very strong defence against greatly superior num- 
bers, while it would be a matter of great danger to the 
enemy to throw forward a heavy force from their base of 
operations, while they were menaced on the right and on 
the left. 

I should think it almost impossible that there could be 
any failure in this plan of campaign. It might all have 
been accomplished a month ago. I think on that day 
Chattanooga might have been permanently occupied, for 
on this day one month ago my troops from the north side 
of the river drove the enemy from the town of Chattanooga. 
I think now the whole work can be accomplished in ten 
days, and that a series of successes extending from Atlanta 
in Georgia throughout Eastern Tennessee up to North 
Carolina might be achieved in rapid succession. 

I do not know what disposition has been made of the 
troops recently before Corinth, uuder the command of Gen- 
eral Halleck ; certainly this entire army is not now required 
along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad ; 
and I have supposed some strong point fifty or sixty miles 
south of Corinth would be strongly fortified and garrisoned 
with a force sufficient to render it impossible to reduce this 
work without a siege train. 

It is not difficult to defend the bridges of a railway 
against roving bands of infantry or cavalry. The bridge 
guards along the railways, under my charge, constructed 
little wooden forts 1 of various forms, all of such strength 
as to increase their power of resistance in a tenfold ratio. 
These little works now extend for hundreds of miles along 
the railways of middle Tennessee and northern Alabama. 

If, therefore, a fortress were constructed for the defence 
of so much of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad as 

1 General Sherman afterwards found these forts invaluable. 



346 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



lies between Tuscumbia and Memphis, the bridges and 
depots would readily be defended against guerrilla bands. 
I think if we abaudon any portion of this line of railway 
between Memphis and Chattanooga, it will be attended 
with disastrous consequences. 

If the enemy has removed his principal force from 
Corinth and that region, and is using that force in any 
other place, we are surely permitted to employ at least an 
equal number of our troops on other duty. If the enemy 
really outnumber us everywhere, we must either increase 
our army, win victories by superior prowess, or acknowl- 
edge that we are too weak to cope successfully with the 
formidable enemy with whom we are contending. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

O. M. Mitchel, Major- General. 

The delay of General Buell at Huntsville, the for- 
mation of a new southwestern Confederate army at 
Tupelo, under Bragg, that general's rapid march 
through East Tennessee, over the route Mitchel had 
pointed out early in June, General Buell's march to 
Louisville on a parallel line with Bragg, are all mat- 
ters of history. The opportunity lost has been re- 
ferred to by General Grant in his Memoirs : — 

After the capture of Corinth a movable force of eighty 
thousand men could have been set in motion, for the ac- 
complishment of any great campaign for the suppression 
of the rebellion. In addition to this, fresh troops were 
being raised to swell the effective force. But the work of 
depletion commenced. Buell with the Army of the Ohio 
was sent east, following the line of the Memphis and 
Charleston Railroad. This he was ordered to repair as 
he advanced, only to have it destroyed by small guerrilla 
bands or other troops, as soon as he was out of the way. 
If he had been sent directly to Chattanooga as rapidly as 
he could march, leaving two or three divisions along the 
line of the railroad from Nashville forward, he could have 



GENERAL BUELL AT HUNTS VILLE. 347 



arrived with but little fighting, and would have saved much 
loss of life, which was afterwards incurred on gaining Chat- 
tanooga. Bragg would then have not had time to raise an 
army to contest the possession of Middle and East Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky ; the battles 1 of Stone River and 
Chickamauga would not necessarily have been fought. 
These are the negative advantages, if the term negative 
is applicable, which would probably have resulted from 
prompt movements, after Corinth fell into the possession 
of the national forces. The positive results might have 
been : a bloodless advance to Atlanta, to Vicksburg, or to 
any other desired point south of Corinth, in the interior of 
Mississippi. 2 

1 Perryville would also come under this head. 

2 Mr. Whitelaw Reid, writing in 1867, drew a parallel between the 
career of General Mitchel and the disasters that followed after he left 
Huntsville, and Lord Macaulay's portrait sketch of Charles Mordaunt, 
Earl of Petersburg : — 

"His courage had all the French impetuosity and all the English 
steadiness. His fertility and activity of mind were almost beyond be- 
lief. They appeared in everything that he did, in his campaigns, in 
his negotiations, in his familiar correspondence, in his highest and 
most unstudied conversation. He was a kind friend, a generous 
enemy, and in deportment a thorough gentleman. . . . Repose was 
insupportable to him. . . . Scarcely any general had done so much 
with means so small. Scarcely any general had ever displayed equal 
originality and boldness. ... He was adored by the Catalonians and 
Valencians, but he was hated by the prince whom he had all but 
made a great king ; and by the generals whose fortune and reputa- 
tion were staked on the same venture with his own. The English 
government could not understand him. He was so eccentric that 
they gave him no credit for the judgment which he really possessed. 
One day he took towns with horse soldiers ; then again he turned 
some hundreds of infantry into cavalry at a minute's notice. . . . The 
ministers thought it would be highly impolitic to entrust the conduct 
of tli.- Spanish war to so volatile and so romantic a person. They, 
therefore, gave the command to Lord Galway, an experienced veteran, 
— a man who was in war what Moliere's doctors were in medicine, — 
who thought it much more honorable to fail according to rule, than 
to succeed by innovation. . . . This great commander conducted the 
campaign of 1707 in the most scientific manner. On the plain of 
Almanza he encountered the army of the Bourbons. He drew up 



348 RMS BY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



Probably no more remarkable instance is to be 
found, of two generals writing unknown to each 
other in a condensed form, arguments with reference 
to an important turning-point of history, with the 
first general of the age who never knew the views of 
at least one of them, more than twenty years after- 
wards to sum up the case. 

Mitchel received no reply to his telegram for sev- 
eral days, when -the Secretary of War ordered him 
to report at Washington without an hour's delay. 

his troops according to the methods prescribed by the best writers, 
and in a few hours lost eighteen thousand men, one hundred and 
twenty standards, all his baggage, and all his artillery." — "War of 
the Succession in Spain," Edinburgh Review, January, 1833. 



XVI. 



WAITING ORDERS. 

The date of General Mitch el's arrival marked the 
beginning of a series of disasters to the government 
troops, which did not end for a year. The President 
had assumed to act upon his prerogative as com- 
mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States in March previous, and had really controlled 
the movements of the armies of Virginia. The army 
of the Shenandoah Valley, under Banks, had been 
driven back by Stonewall Jackson, who .had then 
formed a junction with Lee, and together they had 
driven McClellan from before Richmond to Harri- 
son's Landing. 

There seems to have been three different objects 
which Mr. Lincoln regarded of paramount impor- 
tance. First, the capture of Richmond ; second, the 
occupation of East Tennessee ; third, the opening of 
the Mississippi River. When Mitchel arrived at 
Washington he found that his despatch from Hunts- 
ville, asking to be relieved from duty there, was not 
the prime mover of his going. Mr. Lincoln had 
given up trying to use him in the advance upon East 
Tennessee (which he "regarded second in impor- 
tance only to the operations against Richmond "), 
and had resolved to place him in a field entirely 
new. The President had planned an expedition 
down the Mississippi River. He had selected the 



350 ORMSBY MACKN1GHT MITCHEL. 



troops which were to compose it. All arrangements 
had been made except to select a commander. That 
command Mr. Lincoln offered to General Mitchel. 
And this was the reason of the haste with which he 
had been ordered to the capital. 

A different arrangement was proposed by Secre- 
tary Chase and Mr. Stanton. The reception of Gen- 
eral Mitchel by these cabinet officers was flattering 
in the extreme. Mr. Stanton placed a hand on each 
of Mitchel's shoulders, and told him that he would 
rather see him commander-in-chief than any other 
man. Mr. Chase told him the same, though in a less 
demonstrative manner. The failure of the govern- 
ment to find any man among the eastern generals at 
that time, who would act with what force was at 
hand, and with promptness and energy, undoubtedly 
rendered both these assurances heartfelt. Mr. Chase, 
at least, proved his sincerity by showing an interest 
in General Mitchel which did not swerve as long as 
Mitchel lived. 

There was then before the government the very 
important question of the withdrawal of General 
McClellan's army from Harrison's Landing — indeed, 
the question of McClellan's supersedure. In Mr. 
Chase's notes on these points he says : — 

The possibility of the loss of the entire army (McClel- 
lan's) convinced me and convinced the Secretary of War 
that the Army of the Potomac should be given to some 
more active officer. We proposed to the President to send 
Pope to the James and give Mitchel the command of the 
army in front of Washington, which had been constituted 
of the armies of Banks, Fremont, and McDowell, and 
called the Army of Virginia, and placed under Pope. 1 

1 Shucker's Life of Chase, page 447. 



WAITING ORDERS. 



351 



The President was not then prepared for such a 
sweeping change, and held to his original intention 
of using General Mitchel on the Mississippi. The 
plan, however, was defeated by a sudden decision of 
Mr. Lincoln to shift the responsibility of future 
operations from his own shoulders by appointing a 
Commander-in-chief. He telegraphed to General 
Halleck, then at Corinth, to come to Washington. 

Of the many officers who had cause to rue this 
decision of the President, perhaps none had more at 
stake than General Mitchel. He held the confidence 1 

1 General Mitchel had been in Washington but a few days when 
General Buell sent a telegram to General Halleck, in which he re- 
ferred to Mitchel's army as follows : "As a whole I have found the 
force in a state of demoralization and confusion. I am obliged to 
confess also that the accounts of the discipline of portions of the 
troops are not gratifying. I am trying to get them straight." Gen- 
eral Halleck at once conveyed Buell's information to the War De- 
partment. " He reports the force under General Mitchel in a state 
of utter disorganization." And again, in speaking to the Secretary of 
the failure to pass locomotive and cars at Decatur : " I understand 
that General Mitchel has been ordered to Washington. He should 
be required to give an account of this matter. These delays and 
neglect of duty have greatly embarrassed me in supplying General 
Buell's forces en route against Chattanooga." 

If hard service over an immense territory will disorganize troops, 
Mitchel's force was disorganized. There was hardly a corps in it that 
had not been marched hither and thither till it is quite likely it was 
disorganized, and in confusion. As to pillage, no army ever yet 
entered an enemy's country without it, and a brighter day must come 
for humanity before it will be possible to make aggressive warfare 
without more or less of this one of war's horrors. 

After General Mitchel left Huntsville, Gen. L. H. Rousseau assumed 
command of his division. Gen. Alex. McD. McCook, in his official 
report of the battle of Perryville, says : " The battle was principally 
fought by Rousseau's division, and if there are or ever were better 
soldiers than the old troops engaged, I have neither seen nor read of 
them." General Rousseau, passing through New York in the spring 
of 1863, visited General Mitchel's family. He kindly remarked that 
the special efficiency of the third division was entirely due to the 
training it had received from General Mirchel. 



852 



OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



of the President, the Secretary of War, the Secretary 
of the Treasury. It was a time when the nation 
needed not only a man to lead an important army, 
but men to lead armies. They wished for a certain 
aggressive enterprise such as Mitchel had displayed 
in a very limited field in the West. There were two 
important armies in Virginia, and two in the West. 
Of all the leaders upon whom the}' could call, only 
one (Grant) had at that time displayed the required 
enterprise. 

The removal of General Halleck to Washington 
relieved General Grant from the unpleasant situation 
he had long occupied at Corinth ; 1 and resulted in a 
transfer of the evidences of Halleck's displeasure 
from Grant to Mitchel. Mitchel was ignorant of 
the disposition of the new commander. He had re- 
ceived only marks of confidence in Washington, and 
was thoroughly unconscious of ever having offended 
the General-in-chief. Neither had Halleck ever sent 
him a communication finding any fault with him. 
All such had gone to others, and these had never 
communicated them to Mitchel. 

Of course, as soon as President Lincoln had made 
the appointment of a General-in-chief, General Mit- 
chel was obliged to await the arrival of that officer. 
When he arrived, Mitchel was directed by the Pres- 
ident to report to him, and from that time for a week 
waited for an interview with General Halleck with- 
out being accorded one. 

1 In his Memoirs, Grant, in speaking of this period, says : " I had 
repeatedly asked between the fall of Donaldson and the evacuation of 
Corinth to be relieved from duty under Halleck ; but all my applica- 
tions were refused until the occupation of the town. I then obtained 
permission to leave the department, but General Shermnn happened 
to call on me as I was about starting, and urged me so strongly not to 
think of going, that I concluded to remain." 



WAITING ORDERS. 



353 



A certain antagonism to General Mitchel had 
sprung up among some of the commanders in the 
West, at the very commencement of his military 
career. It began with his intended move into East 
Tennessee, in October, 1861. It gathered strength 
when, starting from the rear of McCook's division 
in February, 1862, he took the advance as next in 
rank to the department commander. When he was 
assigned the duty of protecting Nashville, and the 
other commanders of the Army of the Ohio proceeded 
to Corinth, it seemed as though his restlessness could 
give no further offence. But suddenly he fell upon 
Huntsville, and within a month from his separation 
from the Army of the Ohio he had been made a 
Major-General. Then followed his communications 
direct with the War Department, as ordered by Sec- 
retary Stanton, and finally the order to report at 
Washington, when it was believed that he might re- 
turn, assigned to an important command. It was to 
be expected that all this would spread discontent, 
and that the call to the capital might cause serious 
disquietude in the minds even of the most influential 
commanders. 

This antagonism came partly from the fact that 
Mitchel was not understood. His desire to go for- 
ward was set down as evidence of inordinate ambi- 
tion ; his congratulatory orders to his troops, dictated 
by an ardent nature, and intended to inspire them 
with some of his own fire, were attributed to a de- 
sire to manufacture a reputation : while his corre- 
spondence with the Secretary of War might easily 
be interpreted as intended for a means to promotion. 

This spirit of opposition took shape when Mitchel 
was ordered to Washington. Colonel Jesse Norton, 



354 ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



an officer of Mitchel's own division, whom he had 
arrested for being absent from his command when his 
presence was required, (Norton had gone fishing,) 
followed him to Washington, scattering charges as 
he proceeded. He first stopped at Louisville, where 
he visited a newspaper office and published his first 
report ; then Cincinnati, and other cities by the way, 
till by the time he reached the capital, General Mit- 
chel had been defamed a pillager and a cotton-stealer 
from one end of the land to another. 1 

All this was a wanton infraction of military dis- 
cipline. The army regulations prescribe the channel 
through which all complaints shall be made. They 
must go from regimental to brigade headquarters, 
then to division headquarters, and so on to the War 
Department. When Norton reached Washington, 
the Secretary of War ordered General Wadsworth 
commanding there to arrest him and confine him in 
the Old Capitol prison. Hearing of this order, the 
accuser vanished. What became of him afterwards 

1 There is neither space nor inclination to enter upon an elaborate 
discussion of the conspiracy concocted at this time to ruin General 
Mitchel. The following is clipped from the biography of General 
Mitchel in Ohio during the War. 

" Meanwhile a swarm of slanders had been started by the busy ene- 
mies he had left behind him in Buell's army. Presently a newspaper 
attack appeared, declaring in mysterious vagueness that Mitchel had 
been summoned to Washington to answer the gravest charges. It 
pronounced his conduct ' not only injurious to the government, but 
disgraceful to humanity/ declared that he had ' perpetrated deeds 
of cruelty and guilt the bare narration of which makes the heart sick.' 
Demanded ' swift justice,' hoped ' for the country's sake there would 
be no delay and no clemency,' and reached its climax in pronouncing 
the foremost astronomer of the country, and the hero of the North 
Alabama Campaign, an ' epauletted miscreant.' The organ of these 
slanders was a newspaper, remarkable partly for decayed genius, 
partly for mediocre but malignant treason — The Louisville Journal." 



WAITING ORDERS. 



355 



is not known to the writer. How he received per- 
mission to leave his command for the purpose of 
making this tour, why he was not court-martialled 
upon his return, are matters which will probably 
remain among the secrets of history. 

At last Mitchel was permitted to see the man who 
could either make or mar his future career, and who, 
the result showed, had made up his mind to mar it. 
And now that they are face to face, will not Halleck 
reiterate the complaints he had made to the War De- 
partment ? Considering the fault the Commander-in- 
chief had found with Mitchel, one would suppose 
that he would ask him to explain the acts of which 
he had complained. By no means : not a word about 
the Decatur bridge, not a word about the failure to 
pass rolling stock at the same point. And what is 
the topic of conversation between these two generals, 
at the most important crisis of the nation's history ? 
Unfortunately the Commander-in-chief is afflicted 
with hay-fever, and all the time accorded to his 
subordinate was devoted to his list of remedies and 
his efforts to recover from the unpleasant disease. 

There is something painful in all this, even after a 
quarter of a century has passed away, and both men 
are in their graves. Mitchel did not understand it. 
" He kept me waiting a week," he said shortly after 
the interview to a friend in New York, ^ and then 
spent the time telling me of his hay-fever. Hay- 
fever ! when the enemy are thundering at our gates ! " 

At last it became known to some of Mitchel's 
friends that when Halleck was handed the order ap- 
pointing Mitchel to the command of the expedition 
down the Mississippi River, he refused to sign it. 

And now, after all the delay of Buell's army, and 



356 



ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT M1TCHEL. 



the responsibility cast upon Mitchel for being instru- 
mental in that delay, by his " foolish burning of 
bridges," and his neglect to otherwise facilitate the 
advance, what is this we come upon from the pen of 
the General-in-chief ? In 1863, in passing upon the 
proceedings of the court of inquiry to examine into 
General Buell's operations in Kentucky and Tennes- 
see at the time of which we speak, General Halleck 
writes : — 

So much of the report as states that General Buell's 
march on Chattanooga was delayed hy the repairs of the 
Memphis and Charleston railroad is incorrect. General 
Buell had no other line of supply then than this road till 
he reached Decatur and connected with Nashville. General 
Buell was not delayed an hour beyond what he himself 
deemed necessary to secure supplies. Moreover, his lines 
of supply were those he himself selected. Indeed, there 
were no others from which to select. The fault here as 
elsewhere was having too large supply trains, and in not 
living more upon the country. 

It was not till 1863 that General Halleck, as Com- 
mander-in-chief, discovered that General Buell had 
not been delayed after all. And it is only by the 
publication of the official records of the War Depart- 
ment that it has been possible to gather up these 
points and present them together. But before Gen- 
eral Halleck came to this change of mind with refer- 
ence to General Buell's slow movements towards 
Chattanooga, and General Mitchel's responsibility in 
the matter, it was too late to do him justice, even had 
Halleck's opinion of Mitchel's responsibility changed 
with his opinion that there had been no dela} T . 

Mitchel obtained leave to go to New York and 
await orders. There he remained nearly all summer. 
On the 31st of August he wrote from New York : — 



WAITING ORDERS. 



357 



To Mr. Olcott. 

I am here waiting orders. I would gladly quit a service 
for which I am in no way fitted, but my resignation is op- 
posed by so many high in power and influence, that I deem 
it my duty to withhold it for the present. The President, 
Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Treasury united in 
urging that a very important command should be given me, 
but General Halleck said " No ! " and his veto ends the 
matter. 

The only redeeming, pleasant feature in all this 
time of trouble was the action of Secretary Chase, or 
rather his sympathy, for he had then no power to act. 
He stood by General Mitchel through it all ; and 
when some of General Mitchel's friends wrote him in 
reference to the slanderous statements with which 
newspapers were filled, that he might have authority 
for denying all allegations to others, he replied as 
follows : — 

August 21, 1862. 

I know of no charge against General Mitchel which 
should create the slightest suspicion affecting his honor 
and integrity. I have the most entire respect for him and 
confidence in him, and entertain no doubts, had he been 
properly supported in either of the movements begun by 
him towards East Tennessee, that the loyalists of that re- 
gion would now have been an impregnable barrier against 
rebel movements from East and West over their great rail- 
road forming their main line of communications. 

Even Secretary Chase became depressed. He had 
said constantly to Mitchel : " Wait : the time will 
surely come when your services will be required." 
But it was a period of gloom that tried the most 
hopefuL In August he wrote General Mitchel the 
following brief note : — 

Dear General, — No light yet. When will the dawn 
appear ? I wish I could tell. S. P. Chase. 



XVII. 



DEPARTMENT OE THE SOUTH. 

Early in September General Mitcbel was ordered 
by General Halleck to the command of the Depart- 
ment of the South in South Carolina. 

The department arose in this wise : In the spring 
of 1862, the government, being desirous to utilize 
Port Royal Harbor as a rendezvous for the blockading 
squadron, determined to effect a lodgment on the 
coast there. An expedition, consisting of an army 
force under T. W. Sherman, and a naval force under 
S. F. Dupont, was sent to the mouth of the harbor 
for this purpose. The entrance to the harbor was 
guarded on either side by forts. These the fleet at- 
tacked and silenced. The troops were landed and 
took possession. The navy found the harbor useful, 
and there was nothing more to be accomplished. 
The location was not regarded favorable for active 
operations, and the new department soon became 
little more than a field for negro experiments. 

The order was a surprise to General Mitchel and 
his friends. Those in his confidence saw at once its 
meaning. The Commander-in-chief had yielded to 
the persuasions of those in authority at Washington, 
who had sought to allay his hostility to his subor- 
dinate, and had granted a command ; a command lo- 
cated in the midst of swamps, shut in by estuaries, 
and threatening a coast guarded by fever. It was 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 359 



the last act in the drama that had been played for a 
year past. 

Never had the nation seen so dark an hour as this 
period of the autumn of 1862. McClellan had been 
driven back from the peninsula. Buell had lost all 
the territory acquired by Mitchel during the previ- 
ous spring. The President having failed to find 
generals to work to his satisfaction, had assumed the 
supreme command for a while, then rested the for- 
tunes of the country in the hands of one who made 
war on scientific principles, but had no aptitude for 
its practice, and who history now clearly shows was 
determined that no one else should supply the defi- 
ciency. The list of misfortunes was completed in 
the early part of September by Lee's invasion of 
Maryland, just previous to the battle of Antietani. 

It was at such a period that Mitchel was ordered to 
a region cut off from the North except by sea, fur- 
nishing no advantages as a base of operations, and 
only fitted to protect a harbor for war-vessels. These 
considerations may afford some idea of the feelings 
of one of ardent patriotism, of an unusually restless 
nature, and possessing with all his native confidence 
and assurance a singularly sensitive disposition. 

Before General Mitchel left for his command the 
Secretary of War made the troops in the department 
to compose the Tenth Army Corps. 

On the 15th of September the government trans- 
port Arago, bearing General Mitchel and his personal 
staff, steamed into Port Royal harbor. The flag was 
hoisted at the foremast, which was the signal used 
by the general commanding, a custom which had 
grown up from the troops being so near the water 
and the naval fleet. As the Arago moved up the 



860 OEMS BY MAC KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



harbor, the forts on either side fired the customary 
salute, and the admiral's flag-ship soon followed. It 
was a pretty sight to see the two forts and the frigate 
Wabash all firing at once. For a moment, as the 
general watched the successive puffs of smoke and 
heard the reports, his eye lighted; but the effect was 
merely momentary. 

He did not go ashore till the next morning. Gen. 
John M. Brannan, who was temporarily commanding 
the department, and other officers paid their respects 
to him on the Arago, and one of the regimental bands 
came down to the wharf and serenaded him. Among 
others the Rev. Dr. Strickland, chaplain of the 48th 
New York Vols., called upon him, and afterwards 
wrote : — 

Having heard of the arrival of General Mitchel as com- 
mander of the 10th Army Corps, I went on board the 
steamer Arago to meet him. Having been previously ac- 
quainted with him when he was Professor of Mathematics 
in the Cincinnati College, I needed no introduction. I 
found him pacing the deck. On taking his hand I said to 
him : " Why, General ! what brought you here ? " 

" I came to be buried ! " 

If his remark related to the termination of his earthly 
life, or to the obscuration of his military fame, which he 
had so justly earned in Ohio and Kentucky and Tennessee, 
one thing is certain : he determined to make the most of 
what remained of his earthly existence, and was resolved 
that no supineness on his part should be allowed for a mo- 
ment to eclipse his fame, or tarnish his laurels. He at 
once entered upon his work, and most faithfully did he per- 
form it to the end. 

General Sax ton had been appointed military gov- 
ernor of South Carolina, with a view to experiment- 
ing upon raising negro troops. His capital was at 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 361 



Hilton Head, the headquarters of the department. 
The plan did not work well. General Saxton was 
acting independently under the orders of the Secre- 
tary of War. There were two commanders in a very 
small enclosure, and the result was that the two offi- 
cers had long ceased to recognize each other. 

General Mitchel at once set himself to work to 
harmonize all differences, and do what he could 
towards preparing the force under him for offensive 
operations. In this respect there was little to do 
except niaking their acquaintance, and inspiring them 
with whatever of confidence he might be able. 
Beaufort was visited, and the brigade under command 
of General Brannan was reviewed. The next day 
the commanding general visited Fort Pulaski. The 
garrison, the 48th New York, were drawn up on the 
parade of the fort. The general, directing that they 
should be brought to a " rest," sitting on his horse, 
spoke to them familiarly upon the new relationship 
which had begun between them. 

In this address one may see the soldierly obedience 
striving with the sensitive man whose career had 
been met with so many vicissitudes, and especially in 
being confined to the sea islands of South Carolina, 
when there was so much work to be done in other 
places. It would seem that in counselling his troops 
to obedience — obedience even to death — he was 
telling them his own story. 

Soldiers of the 48th : — It gives me great pleasure 
to meet you here inside of this fortress, — a fortress recov- 
ered by your own prowess from the enemy ; a fortress you 
now hold ; a fortress planned by the government of the 
United States, and built by it, but which had been seized 
by the rebels. Those rebels you have dispossessed ; those 



362 RMS BY MAC KNIGHT MI T CHE L. 



rebels you have compelled to lower their flag before you ; 
and those rebels you have been instrumental in defeating 
and capturing. I need not say to you, understanding the 
nature of this war and all its objects, what you are expected 
to do. You are too intelligent ; you think too much ; you 
are volunteers, and as volunteers you understand your 
duty, and the responsibilities devolved upon you. I am here 
a stranger to you, but I trust not entirely a stranger in 
name, although this is probably the first time that you have 
ever had the opportunity of looking upon my face and form. 
I am here to say that we have an immense work to perform. 
I am just from the North, where, having conversed and 
associated with the thinking men of the country, I am sat- 
isfied that the work before us is the most stupendous, the 
most arduous, that has ever been attempted ; and it is a 
work in which we can never be successful unless we enter 
upon it with a determination never to succumb. I believe 
that we are fighting the battle of human liberty, not for 
this country alone, but for the whole world. I believe that 
the despotisms of the old world would say if this great re- 
public were rent in twain, that it was an absolute fallacy 
to believe that man can govern himself, and that the in- 
terests of the governing class and of the people were so 
radically diverse as to render all attempts at republican 
government failures. If we permit the iron heel of the 
Southern aristocracy to crush us, I undertake to say before 
you all that the last hope of humanity will die out forever. 
All lovers of humanity are looking upon us with anxiety. 
Responsibilities are devolving upon us greater than have 
ever before devolved upon any people on the earth. The 
responsibilities of the French Revolution were nothing 
compared to those under which we labor. That was a con- 
test against oppression, an uprising of the people against 
tyranny. But this is a contest for human freedom : a con- 
test for the absolute supremacy of the people. It is a con- 
test in which is arrayed absolute liberty on the one hand, 
and on the other the most baleful and abominable aristo- 
cracy. And now the grand question is this : Are we to 
meet with success or not ? We cannot meet with success 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 



363 



unless the soldier enjoys the confidence of his officers, and 
the officers that of the soldier. Now I am an old officer, 
so old that thirty years ago I was stationed in the regular 
army at St. Augustine, and though at that time I had not 
the slightest idea of reaching the official rank I now hold, 
yet I am now the commanding officer of this department. 
I have been in the field, and I understand it perfectly. I 
have fought the enemy through four hundred miles of ter- 
ritory, and never knew what it was to be checked and 
turned back. I will tell you of another trait in my character. 
I am very restless ; I don't know how to be still. If you 
were to coufine me within a fortress, or upon one of these 
islands, I should feel as though I were in a penitentiary. I 
don't know what the object of the government was in send- 
ing me here, but it is the duty of a good soldier to obey 
orders without waiting for words of explanation, and as a 
good soldier I obeyed. I was told that I would receive 
instructions here, instructions which had been given to my 
predecessor, and would answer for my guidance. I find 
that those instructions permit me to do pretty much as I 
please, and I shall endeavor to do the best I can. I assure 
you of this : that I will omit no opportunity of giving you 
active employment. You shall have no time for sighing 
and lamenting over your inactivity, if we can find anything 
to do. Be assured that if I can use you, no opportunity 
will escape for active duty if you are ready for the field. 

Now, a perfect confidence between the officers and their 
commanding officer, between the soldiers and their com- 
manding general, is necessary for success. I am delighted 
with the appearance of this regiment. I don't want any 
better-looking regiment. You all look like good soldiers, 
and a good soldier I love. I could get off my horse and 
take him to my arms. But a mean soldier I contemn and 
despise. Now, a good soldier knows his duty and loves 
his duty, and performs his duty because it is his duty. He 
obeys an order because it is given him. He treats his mili- 
tary superior with deference, because it is his duty. He 
knows that as a good soldier he must show that military def- 
erence to every officer. If this military deference can be 



364 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



mingled with personal respect for your superiors, so much 
the better ; but the two are not to be confounded, nor is 
one to be mistaken for the other. A good soldier, when 
he lies down at night, conscious of having performed his 
duty perfectly, don't care whether he gets up alive or dead. 

I want you to understand that you have made a free- 
will offering of yourselves to your country and to the great 
cause of human liberty. Your lives are not your own. 
My life is not my own. A good soldier should be ever 
striving to better himself. A private should struggle for 
a place among the non-commissioned officers. Having at- 
tained this, he should never be satisfied till he is lieutenant; 
and a lieutenant is good for nothing unless he strives to be 
a captain. Once made a captain, he should aim to com- 
mand a regiment, and by faithful, earnest service to fit him- 
self for the position of a brigadier. Then let him press 
steadily forward till the whole country shall take him up 
and say, " Make that man a major-general, and give him 
an army corps." But let him stop here — we don't need a 
commander-in-chief. 

We want many armies. A grand magnificent army is a 
glorious sight — the most glorious sight that the sun ever 
shone upon. Anybody can become a drilled soldier, and 
every officer can make drilled soldiers ; but the next thing 
is to inspire them with a proper determination to die, if 
need be, in the performance of their duty. When this is 
done, an army is a soldier itself, instinct with life and 
vigor and determination. Then the commanding officer 
must have the wisdom, and discretion, and the force to 
compel victory to perch upon his banner. Your fortunes 
are to a certain extent in my keeping. Rest assured that 
day and night I shall think of you, and your interests shall 
be in my thoughts. Rest assured that I shall endeavor to 
see that you get from the government all that it has prom- 
ised you, punctually and systematically. In return I shall 
expect from you the most complete and perfect service, 
the most absolute devotion. When I order you to move, I 
shall expect you to go forward with spirit and alacrity. 
When I ask you to attack yonder battery, I shall expect 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 



365 



you to march over it and to plant your bayonets beyond 
it, halting when the word is given, not before. 
Now, boys, we understand each other. 

This address was taken down by some one on the 
ground phonographically, and published in a little 
newspaper called the " New South," edited and 
printed by the soldiers at Hilton Head. It was 
consequently read by every man in the department. 

In treating of General Mitchel's views concerning 
that other element in his department, the negro, it 
would be useless for his biographer to attempt to 
give them when they have been preserved, stated 
so concisely, so clearly, by himself ; yet, before the 
period of emancipation, and when it would have been 
wrong for him to embarrass President Lincoln by 
breaking out into a loud advocacy of negro emand- 
pation, during the period of his command of this 
negro-experimenting department, and by which he 
might at once have secured a great popular support 
at the North, he had been accused of manufactur- 
ing a military reputation in the West ; here was a 
chance to enlist a following that no military success 
would ensure. Being invited to be present at the 
dedication of a negro church, he addressed its con- 
gregation. Understanding his enthusiastic and rest- 
less nature, one may well wonder at the caution with 
which he delivered his remarks. 

I have been requested to say a few words to you by 
your teacher, who is a good man. Any good man I like, 
regardless of color. I respect him as much whether he is 
black or white. If he be a bad man I shall treat him as 
such, whether he is white or black. Most of you know 
that I have talked to all my soldiers since I came here, and 



366 RMS BY MACKNIGHT MITCH EL. 



now I am talking to you, who are another set of soldiers, 
who have not yet arms in their hands, but who are under 
my protection and guidance, and in whom I take deep in- 
terest. With your past life I fully sympathize. I know 
and understand it all. I was reared in the midst of slavery, 
born in Kentucky, and know all about it. While there 
are many things connected with it that are pleasant, to 
which you will testify, there are a vast many other things 
which are not pleasant; and I think that God intends all 
men shall be free, because He intends that all men shall 
serve Him with their whole heart. I think this is true. 
I am not certain ; I don't know. But in any condition 
we can all love and serve God. That privilege cannot be 
taken away. I care not how savage and wicked the mas- 
ter may be, he cannot prevent you from praying in the 
midst of the night, and God hears and answers the prayer 
of all, slave or free. 

But it seems to me that there is a new time coming for 
you colored people, a better day is dawning for you op- 
pressed and down-trodden blacks. I don't know that this 
is true, but I hope that the door is being opened for your 
deliverance. And now, how deeply you should ponder 
these words. If now you are unwilling to help yourselves, 
nobody will be willing to help you. You must trust your- 
selves to the guidance of those who have had better oppor- 
tunities and have acquired superior wisdom, if you would 
be carried through this crisis successfully. And I believe 
the good God will bless their efforts and lift you up to a 
higher level than you have yet occupied, so that you and 
your children may become educated and industrious citi- 
zens. You must organize yourselves into families. Hus- 
bands must love their wives and children, clinging to them 
and turning from all others, and feeling that their highest 
object in life, next to serving the good God, is to do all 
they can for their families, working for them continually. 

Good colored friends, you have a great work to do, and 
you are in a position of responsibility. The whole .North, 
all the people in the Free States, are looking at you and 
the experiment now being tried in your behalf with the 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 367 



deepest interest. This experiment is to give you freedom, 
position, home, and your own families, — wives, property, 
your own soil. You shall till and cultivate your own 
crops ; you shall gather and sell the products of your in- 
dustry for your own benefit; you shall own your own earn- 
ings, and you shall be able to feel that God is prospering 
you from day to day, and from year to year, and raising you 
to a higher level of goodness, religion, and a nobler life. 

Supposing you fail down here. That will be an end of 
the whole matter. It is like attaching a cable to a stranded 
vessel, and all the strength that can be mustered is put 
upon this rope to haul her off. If this only rope breaks 
the vessel is lost. God help you all and help us all to 
help you ! If you are idle, vicious, indolent, and negligent, 
you will fail, and your last hope is gone ; if you are not 
faithful, you rivet eternally the fetters upon those who to- 
day are fastened down by fetters and suffer by the driver's 
goad. You have in your hands the rescuing of those suf- 
ferers over whose sorrows you mourn continually. If you 
fail, what a dreadful responsibility it will be when you 
come to die to feel that the only great opportunity you had 
for serving yourselves and your oppressed race was allowed 
to slip ! 

And you women, you must be careful of your children. 
You must teach them to be cleanly, obedient, and dutiful 
at all times. You must keep your houses neat and tidy, 
working all day, if necessary, to have them in the best 
possible condition, always thinking and contriving to make 
them cleaner and more comfortable. When your husband 
comes home from the labors and fatigues of the day, al- 
ways have something good and nice for his supper, and 
speak kindly ,to him, for these little acts of love and atten- 
tion will bring you happiness and joy. 

And when you men go out to work you must labor with 
diligence and zeal. It seems to me, had I the stimulus to 
work that you have, that I could labor like a giant. Now 
you know who I am. My first duty here is to deal justly ; 
second, to love mercy ; and third, to walk humbly. First, 
justly: I shall endeavor to get you to do .your duty faith- 



368 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MIT CHE L. 



fully. If you do, I shall reward you ; and if you refuse, 
then what comes next ? Why, the wicked must be pun- 
ished and made to do right. I will take the bad man by 
the throat and force him to his duty. I do not mean that 
I will take hold of him with my own hands, but with the 
strong arm of military power. Now do we understand 
each other. I am working for you already. I am told by 
your superintendent that a gang of fifty men are building 
your houses at the rate of six a week. These houses are 
to make you more comfortable. You are to have a patch 
of ground which you can call your own, to raise your own 
garden truck, and you may work for the government for 
good wages. And you women must make your houses 
shine, — you must plaster them, and whitewash them, and 
gradually get furniture in your cabins, and a cooking-stove. 
I have arranged in such a way that you will get your 
clothing cheaper and better than before, and you are to 
have a school for your children. And you must have 
flowers in your gardens and blossoms before your doors. 
You will see in a little while how much happier you will 
be made. Are you not willing to work for this ? Yes, 
God helping, you will all work. This is only for your- 
selves; but if you are successful, this plan will go all 
through the country, and we will have answered the ques- 
tion that puzzled all good thinking men in the world for 
years. They have asked, " What will you do with the 
black man after liberating him?" We will show them 
what we will do. We will make him a useful, industrious 
citizen. We will give him his family, his wife, his chil- 
dren ; give him the earnings of the sweat of his brow, and 
as a man we will give him what the Lord ordained him to 
have. 

I shall watch everything closely respecting this experi- 
ment. It is something to be permanent — more than for 
a day, more than for a year. Upon you depends whether 
this mighty result shall be worked out and the day of 
jubilee come to God's ransomed people. 

Thus it was that Mitchel endeavored to inspire his 



DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. 



360 



troops, and to speak an encouraging word to the ne- 
groes. But it was without confidence in the useful- 
ness of the position he occupied for a base of opera- 
tions : and all the while feeling the sting of the 
personal enmity of the General-in-chief. Meanwhile 
he learned that the reason of Halleck's displeasure 
was the burning of the Decatur bridge. He at once 
had copies of the correspondence between himself 
and his superiors relating to the subject prepared and 
forwarded them to Washington. 

Hilton Head, S. C, Sept. 26, 1862. 

To Mr. Coe. 

I have yours of the 17th inst., and send you through 
Admiral Dupont, who leaves for the North in the morning, 
copies of General Buell's orders, and of my despatches to 
him in the matter of bridge-burning. There is little use 
in trying to set General Halleck right in this matter, for 
he knows as well as you know your alphabet that when he 
refused to occupy Tuscumbia, this compelled me to fall back 
and burn the bridge at Decatur. His talk about bridge- 
burning shows either his meanness or his utter stupidity. 
I am doing nothing here, and shall die (yes, die is the 
word) of inaction. 

General Saxton has left here, and begs the Secretary of 
War to assign him to other duty, because two commanders 
of the same department are impossible. In this he is right. 
Let me be brought North with all my veteran troops here. 
Let me add to these my old division, and I will then head 
an army corps that will move and strike wherever there is 
work to be done. 

General Saxton should return with new levies and in- 
augurate a great system of negro emancipation in these 
islands. To this work he is especially adapted, while I am 
not, and if I am fit for anything, it is for active work in 
the field. 

Admiral Dupont goes direct to Washington, and bears 
from me a communication to the Secretary of War. 



370 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



I do not hope that anything will be done, and am pre- 
pared for anything, even utter stagnation. 

Again, on the 22d of October he wrote : — 

To Mr. Coe. 

I have no faith in the administration sending troops to 
this department. 1 ... I am hard at work hoping against 
hope. I shall soon have accomplished all that can be done 
with the very small force under my command. Some five 
thousand men is all I can employ for offensive operations ; 
all the others are required to defend the post and islands 
we now occupy. I cannot yet make a lodgment on the 
mainland, as the country fever would probably kill off all 
my troops. We have had two small skirmishes with yel- 
low fever since my arrival. The first was going on when 
we landed ; the second commenced three weeks since. For 
the last two weeks there has been no case, and the cool 
weather causes us to hope we may escape the epidemic. 

i A reply to letters to Secretary Chase expressing- views as to mov- 
ing the force North, elicited the following reply : — 

"I have read with great attention your letters, and have had some 
conversation w r ith the Secretary of War in relation to them. He is 
extremely anxious, and so am I, that you should be strengthened so 
as to enable you to accomplish important results, and I trust the time 
is not far distant when this will be done. 

" You will pardon me if I frankly say that I think you err in desir- 
ing to come North with the best troops of the department. All our 
wishes point exactly the other way. In my judgment the successes 
of the next three months must be chiefly on the coasts of the Atlantic 
and the Gulf." 

Time proved General Mitchel's view to have been correct. The 
Department of the South never was of any benefit in suppressing the 
rebellion, except for a naval rendezvous. 



XVIII. 

A RECONNOISSANCE IN FORCE. 

Soon after General Mitchel's arrival at Hilton 
Head he wrote the Commander-in-chief, advising that 
his department be placed in a condition to effect 
results. But he soon abandoned any such idea on 
discovering that in addition to fighting the enemy 
from his base in South Carolina, he would also have 
to fight disease. General Halleck was not very likely 
to grant his request ; and had Mitchel then known 
fully what had been the action of the Commander-in- 
chief towards him, he never would have made such a 
request. Mitchel bad but one hope in accomplishing 
anything for the Union cause with the force at Hil- 
ton Head and Beaufort : this was to so harass the 
enemy that he would be forced to detach troops that 
could be used elsewhere. Soon after his arrival he 
consulted with Rear Admiral S. F. Dupont, in com- 
mand of the naval squadron lying in Port Royal har- 
bor, and several minor expeditions were planned and 
executed. A Confederate earthwork on the St. John's 
River was captured and dismantled. Important salt 
works at Blufton were destroyed. A reconnoissance 
was made up the Savannah River to Fort Jackson 
with a view to destroying some rebel steamers at 
work on the obstructions to the channel. On being 
fired on, the steamers retreated under the guns of 
Fort Jackson, but presently came out and attempted 
to reach an iron-clad battery anchored below the 



372 RMS BY MACKS/GET M1TCHEL. 



fort. The fight was interesting to the people of 
Savannah, who crowded the housetops, spectators of 
the shot and shell flying between the forts and the 
ships. 

On the loth of October, General Mitchel com- 
menced to prepare for what was destined to be his 
last expedition. It was placed under the command 
of Brig. Gen. J. M. Brannan, and was designed to 
accomplish — 

1. A complete reconnoissance of Broad River and its 
three tributaries, Coosawatchie, Talifenny, and Pocataligo. 

2. To test practically the rapidity and safety with which 
a landing could be effected. 

3. To learn the strength of the enemy on the mainland 
now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. 

4. To accomplish the destruction of so much of this road 
as could be expected in one day. 

At that season of the year General" Mitchel did not 
deem it prudent to expose the troops upon the main- 
land for a longer time. 

His force consisted of about four thousand five 
hundred men, including two sections of artillery and 
one hundred cavalry. 

Previous to the starting of the expedition he had 
sent his scouts and spies to the mainland, and all the 
important points below the Savannah River railroad 
bridge, and to the bridge across the Salkahatchie. A 
small party was sent out to cut the telegraph wires 
if possible. Scouts had been sent in boats up the 
tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings 
had been examined, and the depth of water in the 
several rivers ascertained, as far as practicable. Two 
light-draft transports were converted into gunboats, 
and heavily armed, to aid the transports bearing 
troops. 



A RE CONNOISSANCE IN FORCE. 373 



Colonel Serrell of the 1st New York Engineers and 
Mechanics had been directed to construct two large 
flat-boats or scows, each capable of carrying half a 
battery of artillery with the horses, exclusive of cais- 
sons. They were provided with hinged aprons to 
facilitate the landing not only of artillery, but of 
troops from the transports. 

Commodore Godon of the blockading squadron 
furnished a number of light-draft gunboats, to aid in 
the transportation and for military protection. 

On the evening of the 21st of October, the trans- 
ports were arranged in the harbor for sailing by 
Captain Steedman of the navy. The flatboats were 
taken in tow by one of the steamers ; the best negro 
pilots that could be procured were placed on the 
principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for inter- 
communication. 

The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which 
produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, 
as the signal light could not be seen by those most 
remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, 
however, got under way about twelve o'clock at night. 

General Mitchel had directed a landing to be 
effected at the mouth of the Pocataligo River at 
a place known as Mackie's Point. This is really a 
narrow neck of land made by the Tulifeny and 
the Pocataligo, in both of which rivers gunboats 
could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the de- 
barkation and embarkation of troops. A good coun- 
try road led from this point to the old town of Po- 
cataligo, then entering a turnpike, led from the town 
of Coosawatchie to the principal ferry on the Salka- 
hatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only 
about seven or eight miles, thus rendering it possible 
to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph 



37 J: ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MIT C EEL. 



wires, and return to the boats on the same day, where 
they were safe from attack on the flank or rear, as 
they were protected by the Pocataligo River on the 
one hand, and its tributary, the Talifenny, on the 
other. 

Presuming that the enemy would make his princi- 
pal defence at or near Pocataligo, General Mitchel 
directed that a detachment of the 48th New York, 
under Colonel Barton, with an armed transport and 
one or two light-draft gunboats, should ascend the 
Coosawatchie River for the purpose of making a 
diversion, and in case no considerable force of the 
enemy was encountered, to destroy the railroad at or 
near the town of Coosawatchie. 

The main force, as was intended, landed at Mackie's 
Point in the morning. Unfortunately one of the 
transports was run aground, which delayed the expe- 
dition some three hours, and did away with all hope 
of making a surprise. The march was made for the 
first seven miles through dense woods and marshes, 
nearly all the way over a narrow causeway. Choos- 
ing a position on the farther end of this causeway, 
the enemy opened a furious fire of shell and canister 
on the advancing column, which was returned by the 
artillery under Lieutenant Henry. General Brannan 
at once formed the brigade in line of battle, the centre 
resting on the causeway. After a brisk fire of mus- 
ketry and artillery, the rebels retired to the dense 
woods, tearing up the causeway as they retreated, 
delaying General Brannan's advancing his artillery 
until it was repaired. Meanwhile the 1st brigade 
pressed on to the woods, which they penetrated, driv- 
ing the enemy before them, and closely followed by 
the 2d brigade, under General Terry, 1 who came 
1 Afterwards the hero of Fort Fisher. 



A RECONNOISSANCE IN FORCE. 375 



up with a cheer, and were soon in the fight. Here 
the fighting fairly commenced, the enemy's sharp- 
shooters picking off our men rapidly. While the 
bridge was being repaired, General Brannan's artil- 
lery kept on firing, but soon went forward to a nearer 
support of the infantry. 

In about an hour the rebels retreated to another 
position two miles beyond. They were closely fol- 
lowed, and after another fight, more hotly contested 




than the first, the Union troops were again victorious 
and drove the rebels from their position and two miles 
beyond, which brought them to Pocataligo bridge, 
over which they crossed, taking shelter behind earth- 
works on the further side. Our troops could advance 
no farther, as the bridge had been cut by the enemy 
on his retreat. They consequently withdrew in good 
order. 



376 ORMSBY MAC KNIGHT MITCH EL. 



In the meanwhile Colonel Barton with three hun- 
dred men went up the Coosawatchie River to within 
two miles of a town of the same name. Landing 
here, he marched to the village through which runs 
the railroad. They commenced tearing up the rails, 
when a train of troops came along from the direction 
of Savannah. They fired into the train, killing the 
engineer and a number of the troops. The train, 
however, passed on, and the work of tearing up the 
track was completed, and the telegraph cut. Colonel 
Barton then attempted to reach the railroad bridge 
for the purpose of destroying it, but was unable as it 
was protected by three guns, and he retired to his 
boats. 

The loss to the Union troops in this action was 
about fifty killed and three hundred wounded, all of 
which were brought away. 

General Mitchel, in reporting this expedition, said: 

I have planned three other expeditions, but am so defi- 
cient in troops that I am compelled to recruit my forces 
after each expedition, and this delay is disastrous. 

The remaining expeditions, by which General Mit- 
chel expected to follow up the first (this he intended 
more as a reconnoissance in force), and of which he 
was to take command in person, never took place ; 
nor did he leave any record of his plans with regard 
to them. 

On the 24th of October a steamer was to sail for 
the North. This steamer was to bear the news of 
the battle of Pocataligo, and give a list of killed 
and wounded. General Brannan supposing General 
Mitchel desired a list of killed and wounded to be 
prepared, even if in so short a time that the names 



A RECONNOISSANCE IN FORCE. 



377 



could not all be obtained, sent in such a list. To 
this General Mitchel replied as follows : — 

To General Brannan. 

I have received your list of this date. I regret that 
you have misunderstood ine. It would be too cruel to the 
friends of the killed and wounded under your command, to 
send the list giving numbers without names. I will there- 
fore detain the steamer until morning, and I beg you to 
furnish the names of the killed and wounded, and missing, 
at the earliest possible moment. 

This letter and despatch were the last that Gen- 
eral Mitchel ever sent. Copies of all despatches 
were kept in a series of blank books. To one pass- 
ing over these books, beyond this message of merci- 
ful forethought is a blank which, after reading so 
many communications in which the writer has 
stamped his own life and vigor, seems like an eter- 
nity of silence. 



XIX. 



DEATH. 

It can scarcely be expected that the previous rec- 
ord shall explain fully the condition of General 
Mitchel's mind during the few weeks of his sojourn 
and command in South Carolina. Of the harp-strings 
that mark the character tones of individuals his were 
a blending of the most delicate and the deepest. At 
Port Royal he was looked up to with great respect 
by the officers and men ; he was chief, and his power, 
so far as it extended, was almost absolute. But the 
pomp and ceremony surrounding a commander had 
no charm to divert his mind from the fact that he 
was needed elsewhere. If gloom settled upon him 
with reference to his own career, he never lost heart 
for the country. 

I am not troubled. I am standing on a rock. I have 
absolute confidence in the wisdom and goodness of God. 
He may, indeed, leave the country a prey to disaster, but 
I do not believe that He will, for then it would be no use 
to contend against such a result. Rather, I believe, He 
will bring it out of all its perils into peace and liberty. 

Before the starting of the expedition toward Po- 
cotaligo, several members of his personal staff had 
been stricken down with a disease which the medical 
director told him that he suspected to be yellow 
fever. It was not long before all doubt was re- 
moved. The headquarters were located near some 



DEATH. 



379 



earthworks, which were at the time being con- 
structed. It is supposed that the turning up of fresh 
earth in countries subject to fever is detrimental ; 
at any rate, all the personal staff, consisting of five 
persons, were taken down one after the other, except 
Major B. Burch, senior aide-de-camp. Lieut.-Col. 
Prentice, chief of staff, Captain Williams and others, 
and Captain Warfield of the general staff, were 
stricken down in turn within a few days. General 
Mitchel's relations with his staff were especially 
near, and the prostration of one after another with 
the dreaded disease had a very distressing effect 
upon him. He concluded to take the sick away from 
the vicinity of those fortifications. Placing them on 
board a steamer, he moved them to Beaufort, and on 
arriving there took possession of a house which had 
been reserved for the use of the department com- 
mander, and known as the Hayward House. 

In the evening of the arrival of the party General 
Mitchel was taken down with the fever. From 
Saturday, the day of the commencement of his ill- 
ness, till the following Wednesday he was watched 
faithfully by his devoted friend, Major Burch. On 
that day one of his aides, Captain Williams, 1 a young 
fellow of twenty years of age, and a fine soldier, died. 
There was great hope on the part of his attendants 
of saving the general, but their efforts were unac- 
companied by any effort on his part. Stricken at a 
time when his mind was distressed by the failure of 

1 James C. Williams was born April 17, 1842. Graduated at 
Brown University, 1861. Commissioned second lieutenant 45th Ohio 
Volunteers, by Governor Dennison, September, 1861. Promoted by 
the President to be captain and aide-de-camp on the staff of the gen- 
eral commanding 10th Army Corps, September, 1862. Died October 
29, 1862. 



380 ORMSBY MA CKNIGHT MIT C BEL. 



his efforts to effect any permanent good to his coun- 
try ; taken from an open field and placed among the 
deadly swamps of South Carolina ; striving to draw 
his troops from out a languor even more demoralizing 
than useless activity, — as one attacked by an enemy 
against which he is defenceless folds his mantle about 
his head and waits the descending blow, he waited 
for the end. 

During his illness two officers, General Brannan 
and General Saxton, met in Mitchel's room. On the 
former again fell the command of the department 1 
which he had relinquished on Mitchel's arrival. 
Mitchel knew that he was stricken with death, and 
that these two officers, who were still at enmity, 
would soon be in the same position towards each 
other as at his own arrival. His last act was one 
of at least attempted peace-making. General Sax- 
ton claimed that General Brannan was opposed to 
the experiments that were being tried with the 
negroes. General Mitchel at this meeting begged 
General Saxton to consider the injustice of his 
charge, since Brannan had brought back with him 
from the Coosawatchie expedition several hundred 
fugitive negroes : a positive proof of his sympathy 
with the race. Mitchel begged the two men to 

1 When General Mitchel was prostrated by the fever he relinquished 
the command of the department to General Brannan, the next officer 
in rank. General Brannan was well qualified to retain the permanent 
command ; but being satisfied that the field was not fitted for active 
operations, he preferred a transfer to the West. General Hunter, 
who had commanded at Port Koyal before General Mitchel, was sent 
back there at Mitchel's death, and General Brannan was appointed 
to the command of a division in the Army of the Cumberland. 

General Brannan served during the Mexican war, being brevetted 
for gallant and meritorious conduct at Cherubusco and Contreras. 
He was also brevetted and promoted during the Atlanta campaign. 



DEATH. 



381 



shake hands and bury their animosities. This, at 
least in form, they did. 

Major Burch was with him, holding him in his 
arms till the last moment. Shortly before he ex- 
pired he asked Major Burch to take down his will. 
After dividing the remnant of a fortune between his 
children he gave a keepsake to each, — his horse to 
one, a sword to another, a watch to a third, and so 
on until all had been remembered. The bequest 
closed with the injunction, " Love God supremely 
and each other most deeply." 

Chaplain Strickland, the surgeon, and Major Burch 
were with him when he died. Chaplain Strickland 
has described the scene : — 

He remained almost to the last in possession of the 
power of speech, looking forward to his release with all 
the calmness and fortitude which the Christian faith com- 
bined. He expressed to me his firm unshaken trust in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and when the tongue refused to obey 
the mandates of the will, with a smile that seemed like a 
reflection of glory from heaven, he raised his left hand 
and pointed with his forefinger to the skies, and repeating 
the movement with his right, it seemed that in that old 
historic mansion earth and heaven had met and mingled. 

There were four members of the personal staff 
sick with the fever when General Mitchel died. 
They had not been informed as to the nature of their 
disease, or of the death of their comrades, the gen- 
eral, or Captain Williams. On the day after the 
general's death his remains were escorted to a vault 
in the Episcopal church at Beaufort, there to re- 
main till they could be removed to the North. Rear 
Admiral Dupont, Generals Saxton, Brannan, Terry, 
and other naval and military commanders then in 



382 ORMSBY MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



the department, were in attendance. The last volley 
was fired by infantry, artillery, and cavalry. These 
shots were heard by the members of the staff, who 
were lying ill in the house from which the bodies of 
the general and his aide had been removed; but upon 
asking the cause they were given an answer intended 
to temporarily allay any suspicion of the real facts, 
till they should be in a fitter state to bear the truth. 

Among the many beautiful tributes that were 
spoken in his memory at the time of his death were 
these words from an eloquent divine : 1 — - 

He died at his post, in the ripeness of his years, with 
his armor on; and fortunate, thrice fortunate, that the door 
of heaven opened not to him from among the stars where 
he so loved to wander, but from among Christ's poor and 
helpless disciples whom he was beginning to teach, to in- 
struct, to inspire, and defend. It might have seemed glori- 
ous for him to enter his rest from the martyr's stroke or 
from the battlefield, whose hoarse music melts on many an 
ear into the entrancing symphonies of heaven. It might 
enkindle our imagination to think of him taken from the 
astronomic chair, passing, while he kept his nightly vigils 
and ascending from among those glorious orbs, into the 
brighter sphere as from glory to glory. But better, far 
better than this, nobler, sublimer, was his going who walked 
through the valley of the shadow of death from out the 
lowest door on earth, that very door of the poor through 
which his Master came, and who, all the way from the 
plantations of Beaufort to the Throne, heard airy voices 
exultingly chanting, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of 
the least of these ye did it unto the King." Rest ! Thy 
sun arose and forgot to set. It went not down, but rose 
higher from its zenith into the unhorizoned heaven. 

The Rev. Dr. Strickland gave General Mitch el's 

1 Henry Ward Beecher's Thanksgiving sermon, 1862. 



DEATH. 



383 



characteristics, at the time of his death, with remark- 
able clearness and truthfulness : — ■ 

It is indeed a marvel how General Mitchel could wind 
himself so deeply into the confidence and affection of the 
army here in so short a space of time. There was a strange 
witchcraft about the man in his prompt eloquence, his ad- 
mirable tact, and his rare combination of modesty and as- 
surance, that enabled him to carry all before him. But 
that the day of such superstition is past, one would be fain 
to impute to him the gift of the art of bewitching those 
about him. His presence, especially when his inward forces 
were in action, was a sort of inspiration or blessed infec- 
tion of manhood, kindling and quickening all who came 
within his circle, while his mixture of blandness and sever- 
ity, his sagacious affability and his busy concernedness for 
the heart-health of his troops, scrutinizing the particulars 
of their state, visiting the well at their work and the sick 
and wounded on their beds, dropping a shrewd suggestion 
here and a kindly, cheering word there, and appearing 
thoroughly at home in all that was going on ; these things 
fairly knit the men to his purpose, causing them to love 
him as a brother while obeying him as a master. His 
manful intentness, too, in giving each man a chance to do 
his best and even in helping him to do it, together with his 
sharp faculty of catching and marking the special aptitudes 
of his men, so as to be able to place them where they 
could do most for their own credit and for the public ser- 
vice — this was an item of no small account in his sum of 
power. Yet there were no signs of anything studied in 
his behavior. You could not justly say he studied any arts 
of popularity. In all seemed the result of art above art 
as " one touch of nature makes the whole world kin." In- 
deed, the main secret of his power with the troops lay in 
the perfect naturalness with which he bore himself. There 
was neither haughtiness in his reserve nor looseness in his 
familiarity. He drew and held the men to him by a cer- 
tain happiness of complexion — call it genius if you will — 
and because he could not help it. He could do what he 



884 OHM SB Y MA C KNIGHT MITCHEL. 



pleased with them and could make them do what he pleased, 
because his touch sprung, as it were, their instincts of man- 
hood and truth into them. 

General Mitchel's qualifications for generalship can 
only be judged from their promise. The indications 
afforded in his brief career have been referred to as 
follows : 1 — 

Two years before Sherman he showed how armies might 
depend on single lines of railroad through great tracts of 
the enemy's country for supplies. As early as Butler he 
showed how rebels should be made to support the war. 
Eighteen months before Rosecrans he fastened upon the 
strategic point of the whole central half of the Southern 
States. Almost three years before Sherman he showed 
how the shell of the Confederacy might be pierced, and 
how little resistance was to be expected when once this 
shell was passed. 

He was comparatively untried. A brief period of subor- 
dinate service ; a four months' campaign with an army of 
less than fifteen thousand, brilliantly managed, but inade- 
quately opposed ; and five weeks preparatory to a cam- 
paign : in these short phrases his career in the war of the 
rebellion is told. Amid the stumblings of those earlier 
years his was a clear and vigorous tread. While the 
struggling nation blindly sought for leaders, his was a bril- 
liant promise. But he never fought a battle, never con- 
fronted a respectable antagonist, and never commanded a 
considerable army. Yet what he did had so won the con- 
fidence of the troops and the admiration of the country, 
that his death was deplored as a public calamity, and he 
was mourned as a great general. 2 

1 Whitelaw Eeid, in Ohio during the War. 

2 The following is from the New York Evening Post, November 5, 
1862 : " The news from Port Koyal to-day carries mourning into every 
loyal household in the country. In General Mitchel the republic has 
lost one of its truest and noblest citizens, one of its ablest and most 
brilliant defenders ; and that at a moment when all eyes were turned 
to him with the hope of .speedy and useful achievements; at the 



DEATH. 



385 



A point in the history of the rebellion seems to 
have been reached where an important opinion, un- 
spoken in public till General Grant announced it in 
his Memoirs, seems to be gaining ground : that the 
rebellion should have been ended in 1862. General 
Mitchel spoke of it as not only possible, but under 
vigorous treatment as a foregone conclusion. What 
he would have done, had he been first instead of sec- 
ond in command of the Army of the Ohio in July, 
1862, in averting the " battles of Stone River and 
Chickamauga," and in securing " a bloodless advance 
to Atlanta," or in inaugurating " a series of successes 
tending from Atlanta in Georgia throughout Eastern 
Tennessee up to North Carolina," is left to the con- 
jecture of such of his countrymen as shall peruse this 
record. 

Had he lived but a month or two longer, when 
General McClellan and General Pope had both been 
relieved in Virginia, when generals were being suc- 
cessively tried in the east and had successively failed, 
and there seemed no one to take their places, perhaps 
those in the government who had confidence in him 
might have triumphed over General Halleck's oppo- 

moment when, in the prime of life and in the fulness of preparation, 
he stood in reality at the threshold of a career for which his previous 
history promised that it would be as useful to his country as glorious 
to himself and those who served with him. 

" His brilliant and fruitful campaign in the West had given him the 
confidence of the people, who felt that here was a man who w r as both 
eager tj meet the enemy and able to beat him. Far better known to 
the pi ;>lic than Lyon, he held in the hearts of the people the same 
place, and was trusted in the same way as that general ; and the grief 
whieh was felt for the death of the hero of Wilson's Creek is repeated 
in all hearts to-day at the loss of Mitchel — and for the same reason, 
that every man and woman in the land believed thoroughly in his 
unselfish devotion to the Union." 



386 ORMSBY MACKN1GET MITCHEL. 



sition, and secured him a trial. Whether he would 
have been successful, or have gone down with those 
who preceded General Grant, no man knows. 



At the time of General Mitchel's death, the Astro- 
nomical Society of Cincinnati met for proceedings in 
commemoration of their former director, and then 
changed the name of the observatory he had founded 
to be the Mitchel Observatory. 

The trustees of the Dudley Observatory also met 
for a similar purpose, and in the resolutions then 
passed, General Mitchel was referred to as "origi- 
nator of this Institution." He was certainly among 
those who were the originators, though he did not 
carry on the work personally as at Cincinnati. 

The Cincinnati Observatory still lives. For some 
time after General Mitchel's death it continued under 
the directorship of Mr. Twitchell. Then Mr. Cleve- 
land Abbe was appointed, though the smoke from the 
city rendered the site almost useless for astronomical 
purposes. After Mr. Abbe left it, little or nothing 
was done for several years. At last an arrangement 
was effected between the heirs of Mr. Nicholas Long- 
worth and the city of Cincinnati, by which the in- 
struments were turned over to the city. Mr. John 
Kilgour gave a site at Mt. Lookout further removed 
from the influence of smoke, and a new building was 
erected. Now the Cincinnati Observatory is sup- 
ported by taxation. The corner-stone was taken 
from the old building, and rests in the new one, bear- 
ing the inscription : — 



DEATH. 



387 



East Side. 

CINCINNATI ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 

Founded 
May, A. D. 1842. 



North Side. 



This Corner Stone 


was Laid by 


JOHN QUINCY 


ADAMS, 


November 9, 


1843. 


Removed and 


Relaid, 


MDCCCLXXIII. 



The equatorial brought over by Mitchel rests in 
the new building; but great changes having come 
in the manufacture of object-glasses since the father 
of the family came to America, the glass has been 
refigured by Alvan Clark. A new transit, and 
other equipments were purchased. The observatory 
is under the directorship of Professor J. G. Porter. 1 
Having become an institution of the city of Cincin- 
nati, it is still known as the Cincinnati Observatory. 

General Mitchel's remains rest in Greenwood 
Cemetery by the side of his wife. His separation 
from his children is being lessened as year by year 
another is laid beside him. When the planet Mars 

1 The editor is indebted to the courtesy of Professor Porter for 
data in the present work. 



888 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



came round to its next opposition, of the eight mem- 
bers of the family gathered at Albany in 1860, only 
three remained, and in another year the number was 
reduced to two. 

Let not the reader of the foregoing narrative, in 
looking at the two widely different fields in which 
General Mitchel worked, attach too great importance 
to the latter. The loud-mouthed implements of war 
may at times overshadow those unobtrusive instru- 
ments which silently mark the motions of the stars, 
but the results of the former pass away, while those 
of the latter endure. And far more precious than a 
proficiency in the use of either is that undercurrent 
of feeling, of affection, so deep set in the breast of 
the man whose career we have been tracing, whether 
manifesting itself in the bosom of his family, or in his 
love of country. 



INDEX. 



Abbe, C, 386. 

Adams, J. Q., 47, 64, 65, 66, 92, 96, 147, 

148, 149, 150, 166. 
Adams, Mr. 185. 
Agassiz, 176, 183. 

Airy, G. B., 65, 66, 67, 92, 95, 96, 99, 
100, 136, 138, 162, 176, 178, 185, 187. 

Airy, Miss, 138. 

Airy, Mrs., 137, 138, 187. 

Albany, 191, 192, 200, 203. 

Albert, Prince, 104. 

American Philosophical Society, 182. 

Anderson, Gen., 210, 214, 215, 220, 222, 
223. 

Andrews, J. J., 267, 289, 290, 293, 294, 

295, 296, 298, 299, 300. 
Arago, F. D., 118, 173. 
Astronomical Society of Cincinnati, 97, 

152, 185. 
Astronomy of the Bible, 182. 
Atlanta, 291, 315. 

Bache, A. D., 74, 176. 

Bacon Creek, 236, 238. 

Bailey, 136. 

Baltimore, 77. 

Baring & Bros. , 145. 

Bartlett, Prof., 78. 

Barton, Col., 376. 

Beauregard, 295, 303, 305, 320, 330. 

Bellefonte, 344. 

Berlin, 174. 

Big Shanty, 293, 301. 

Biot, 117. 

Birmingham, 90. 

Boston, 160, 161, 195. 

Bowling Green, 244, 245, 247, 248, 249, 

250, 252. 
Bradish, Luther, 195. 
Bradley, 92, 100. 
Bragg.'Gen., 347. 
Braiden, Capt., 257, 258. 
Brannan, Gen. J. M., 360, 361, 374, 377, 

380. 

Breckenridge, John C, 223. 

Bremer, Frederika, 177. 

Bridgeport, 275, 303, 311, 312, 313, 319. 

Brown, engineer, 294. 

Brussels, 186. 

Buckner, Gen. . 220. 

Buell, D. C, 206, 236, 241, 242, 243, 244, 
246, 249, 251, 254, 261, 262, 266, 267, 



I 268, 269, 271, 278, 287, 295, 303, 307, 
313, 318, 320, 331, 333, 335, 339, 340, 
341, 342, 344, 345, 346, 355. 

I Burch, B., 379, 381. 
Burnet, Judge, 42, 54, 56, 62, 147, 151. 

Calhoun, 297. 
Camden Hill, 105. 
Cameron, Sec, 226, 229, 232. 
Carneal, 344, 345, 346. 
Cass, Lewis, 118. 
Cass Station, 295. 
Cauchoix, 114, 117, 118. 
| Challis, Mrs., 136. 
Charles X., 28. 

Chase, S. P., 207, 211, 243, 338, 350, 357. 
Chattanooga, 291, 293, 297, 298, 302. 313, 

331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 339, 341, 342, 

343, 344, 345, 346. 
Church, Prof., 77. 

Cincinnati, 3, 9, 42, 44, 45, 58, 90, 144, 
151, 152, 157, 165, 166, 176, 183, 189, 
204, 213, 217, 218, 220. 

Cincinnati College, 44, 159. 

Cincinnati Observatory, 47, 94, 155, 174, 
188, 191, 213. 

Clairaut, 108. 

Clark, Judge, 32. 

Clark, J. H., 327. 

Clark, Louisa, 32. 

Cleveland, 336, 339, 343. 

Coe, George S., 213, 244, 368, 370. 

Columbia, 274, 276, 302. 

Combe, 118. 

Corinth. 204, 303, 346. 

Cornwall, 32, 208. 

Corwin, Thomas, 11. 

Cozzens, 78. 

Crane, Lieut., 311. 

Cushman, Charlotte, 177. 

Dalton, 293, 335, 343. 

Davies, Prof., 195. 

Davis, Jeff., 22, 207. 

Decatur, 249. 253, 271, 274, 276, 285, 308, 

313, 316, 343, 356. 
Decherd, 274. 
Delafield, 78. 

Dennison, Gov., 213, 215, 217, 218. 
DeWitt, Mrs., 33. 
Dobb, Lieut., 28ft 
Dollond, 97. 



390 



INDEX. 



Drake, Dr., 42. 

Dripping Springs, 246. 

Dudley Observatory, 97, 183, 191, 192, 

200, 213. 
Dumont, Gen., 237, 257, 266. 
Duke, Basil, 264. 
Dupont, 358, 369, 371. 

Elizabethtown, 236. 
Encke, 164. 
Ertl, 127. 

Everett, Edward, 68, 92, 93. 

Fayetteville, 253, 271, 273, 279, 281, 294. 
Flamstead, 92, 100. 
Florence, 319. 

Fort Donaldson, 243, 244, 249, 254. 

Fort Henry, 249. 

Fort Marion, 41. 

Frankfort, 186, 197. 

Franklin, 273, 274, 276. 

Franklin, Gen., 212. 

Frauenhofer, 126, 214. 

Fremont, 210. 

Foote, J. P., 54. 

Forward, 63, 69, 70. 

Fuller, W. A., 294, 295, 297. 

Gallatin, 262. 
Galle, 174. 
Gambay, 114, 118. 
Garfield, 333. 
Gauss, 164. 

Godon, Commodore, 373. 
Goodman, William, 54. 
Gould, 187-. 

Grant, U. S., 210, 241, 243, 250, 254, 266, 

273, 302, 346. 
Greenwich, 98, 136, 137, 166, 185. 
Greenwood, Miles, 54. 

Halleck, Gen., 240, 241, 242, 249, 266, 
306, 307, 316, 320, 323, 330, 335, 341, 
352. 

Hardee, Gen., 220, 242, 248, 258, 260. 

Harris, Col., 257. 

Harris, Ira, 207. 

Harrison, J. P., 44. 

Harvard University, 183. 

Havre, 116. 

Hayes, Dr., 201. 

Herschel, Sir John, 101, 102, 111. 

Herschel, Sir Wm., 102. 

Holland, Sir Henry, 184, 185, 189. 

Hough, G. W., 202, 209. 

Huntsville, 274, 277, 278, 281, 283, 285, 

286, 293, 301, 304, 309, 316, 324, 327, 

343,345. 

Jackson, Col., 210. 

Johnston, Andrew, 223. 

Johnston, Gen. A. S., 22, 220, 223, 253. 

Johnston, Gen. J. E., 22, 23. 

Jonas, J., 54. 

Jones, J. D., 42. 

Kennett, Col., 257, 258, 261. 
Kilgour, 386. 



Kingston, 295. 
Kingston, 303. 
Knight, engineer, 294. 
Knoxville, 302, 336, 343. 

Lamont, Dr., 127, 128, 131, 132, 141, 143, 

146, 165. 
Laplace, 164. 

Leadbetter, Gen., 298, 333. 

Lebanon, 11, 17. 

Lee, R. E., 22, 23. 

Lehrenbours, 114, 118, 156. 

Lester, Col., 335. 

Leverrier, 173, 174, 185. 

Lincoln, President, 232, 233, 326, 349, 

351, 352. 
Lind, Jenny, 177. 
Liverpool, 89, 90, 100, 184, 186. 
Loomis, Prof., 195. 
London, 133, 186. 

Longworth, N., 146, 189, 191, 258, 386. 

Louis Philippe, 28. 

Louisville, 320, 354. 

Lubbock, Sir John, 106. 

Lucerne, 186. 

Lytle, Gen., 266. 

MacAlister, Elizabeth, 2. 
Madler, 143, 182. 
Main, Robert, 92, 96, 99, 100. 
Mansfield, Mrs., 42. 
Mansfield, E. D., 43, 54. 
Marietta, 293. 
Mason, Charles, 23. 
Maxey, Gen., 303. 

McClellan, 210, 215, 240, 241, 337, 350, 
385. 

McCook, 222, 224, 244. 
McCoy, 15, 16. 
McLean, Judge, 11, 18. 
McMinnville, 344. 

Mertz, 126, 127, 132, 141, 142, 143, 157, 
165. 

Mitchel, Daniel, 5. 
Mitchel, E. W., 263. 
Mitchel, John, 1. 

Mitchel, Mrs., 133, 168, 175, 177, 190, 

192, 201, 208. 
Mitchel, Oemsby MacKnight : 

birth, 5. 

first conception of God, 8. 
school days, 13. 
clerk, 14. 

trip with teamster, 15. 

application for cadet warrant, 17. 

journey to West Point, 19. 

letters from West Point, 20. 

class-mates, 22. 

graduated, 24. 

dreaming, 26. 

first oration, 29. 

first meeting with wife, 33. 

proposed trip, 36. 

engagement broken, 38. 

at Fort Marion, 41. 

arrives at Cincinnati, 42. 

law, 43. 

professor, 44. 



INDEX. 



391 



engineer, 45. 

bank mob, 46. 

first lectures, 47. 

tbe Cincinnati Observatory, 49. 

a beginning, 53. 

letter of instructions, 55. 

starts for Europe, 58. 

stage-coach acquaintance, 60. 

at Washington, 62. 

interview with Mr. Webster, 63. 

with Mr. Adams, 66. 

with Secretary of Treasury, 71. 

at Philadelphia, 71. 

at West Point, 77. 

at sea, 79. 

Liverpool, 90. 

with opticians, 93. 

interview with Sheepshanks, 94. 

to Greenwich, 98. 

to Windsor, 101. 

at Camden Hill, 109. 

a night with the stars, 110. 

across the Channel, 114. 

to Paris, 116. 

" M. Cauchoix and myself," 117. 

with M. Arago, 119. 

to Munich, 123. 

travelling acquaintances, 124. 

ill at Munich, 125. 

at optical works of Metz, 126. 

at the Munich Observatory, 127. 

selects a glass, 132, 

at London, 133. 

letters home, 134. 

extracts from notes, 135. 

arrives at home, 140. 

raising means, 141. 

a site, 146. 

invites Mr. Adams to be orator, 147. 

the inauguration, 151. 

erecting building, 153. 

lectures in Boston, 161. 

character of work, 165. 

work accomplished, 168. 

Antares, 169. 

a double star, 170. 

his income, 171. 

Adjutant General of Ohio, 172. 

time given to visitors, 173. 

entertains, 176. 

writing, 178. 

the chronograph, 179. 

daily life, 181. 

honors, 183. 

consulting engineer, 183. 
sails for Europe, 184. 
sees Mr. Airy, 185. 
fortune, 186. 

Ohio & Mississippi R.R., 188. 
last summer at Mt. Adams, 189. 
visit from Sir H. Holland, 190. 
necessities, 192. 

accepts directorship of Dudley Obser- 
vatory, 193. 
farewell lectures, 194. 
closes, 198. 
at Albany, 200. 
the planet Neptune, 204. 



change, 205. 

bids adieu to wife, 208. 

to the front, 209. 

in Washington, 211. 

ordered West, 212. 

at Cincinnati, 213. 

first letter, 214. 

to Washington, 216. 

returns to Cincinnati, 219. 

letters, 220. 

calls, 224. 

appointment with Gen. Sherman, 229. 

ordered back, 230. 

resigns, 231. 

a discovery, 233. 

to Washington, 236. 

his Division, 237. 

habits, 240. 

asks active duty, 242. 

called to Louisville, 243. 

ardor at moving, 244. 

too late, 245. 

reports progress, 246. 

hopes to save bridge, 247. 

advance on Nashville, 248. 

enters Nashville, 253. 

Morgan seizes pass, 256. 

his scout, 259. 

captures Morgan's brother, 264. 
moves south, 267. 
rebuilds bridges, 270. 
receives instructions, 273. 
to Shelbyville, 275. 
decides on a campaign, 278. 
to Fayetteville, 280. 
enters Huntsville, 284. 
to Stevenson, 286. 
promoted, 288. 

parts with Engineer Brown, 291. 

learns fate of raiders, 299. 

forwards Beauregard's despatch, 306. 

sends Pike to Bridgeport, 310. 

cotton bridge, 311. 

fires Bridgeport bridges, 314. 

plan for suppressing rebelbon, 315. 

negroes for scouts, 317. 

becomes district commander, 320. 

instructions to captain of gunboat, 

321. 
letters, 322. 

only authority in his region, 325. 
opens cotton trade, 326. 
builds ferry, 332. 

desires to occupy Chattanooga, 353. 

anxiety, 337. 

desires to advance, 340. 

ordered to Washington, 348. 

arrives at Washington, 349. 

appointed to a command, 351. 

sees Halleck, 355. 

goes to New York, 356. 

ordered to South Carolina, 358. 

leaves New York, 359. 

address to soldiers, 361. 

address to negroes, 365. 

sends troops to Pocataligo, 374. 

last despatch, 377. 

takes yellow fever, 380. 



392 



INDEX. 



death, 381. 
tribute, 382. 
qualifications, 384. 
Morgan, Gen., 290. 

Morgan, John, 256, 259, 260, 261, 263, 
318. 

Morrow, Gov., 11, 71. 
Mt. Adams, 153, 172, 176. 
Munich, 123, 125, 197. 
Munich Observatory, 127. 
Murfreesboro, 253, 255, 272, 273,274, 
335. 

National Observatory, 94. 

Nashville, 248, 249, 251, 252 , 263, 274, 

276, 300, 303, 343, 346, 356. 
Negley, Gen., 334. 
Nelson, Gen., 226-230. 
Neuilly, 116. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, 92, 108. 
New York, 140. 
Niagara, 147. 

Northumberland, Duke of, 95. 
Norton, Col., 353. / 

Ohio & Miss. R. R., 183, 188. 
Olbers, 164. 

Olcott, Thomas W., 200, 213, 214, 231, 
232, 357. 

Paris, 114, 116, 118, 186. 
Patterson, Dr., 60, 74. 
Peabody, George, 184, 185. 
Pemberton, Gen., 303. 
Pendleton, Hon. Mr., 62, 65, 71. 
Perkins, J. H., 54. 
Pierce, Prof., 176. 
Pike, Corporal, 259, 279, 280, 310. 
Piqua, 19. 

Pittsburg Landing, 306. 

Planetary and stellar worlds, 182. 

Pontecoulant, 164. 

Poor, E., 54. 

Popular Astronomy, 182. 

Porter, Gen., 149. 

Porter, J. G., 307. 

Prentice, W. P., 252, 259, 271, 307, 379. 
Pulaski, 274, 276, 318. 

Quetelch, 143. 

Ripley, Geo., 161, 191. 
Rogers, Dr., 93. 
Rome, 315, 343. 

Rosecrans, Gen., 210, 212, 214, 223. 
Ross, Hon. Thomas, 18. 
Royal Astronomical Society, 183. 
Royal Observatory, 94, 99, 100. 

Savannah, 320. 

Schliemann, 186. 

Scott, Gen., 210, 212, 217. 



Scott, T. A., 217, 219, 251, 252. 
Sheepshanks, 93, 95, 100, 136. 
Shelbyville, 253, 271, 274, 277, 280. 
Sherman, Gen. T. W. , 358. 
Sherman, Gen. W. T., 226, 229. 
" Sidereal Messenger," 144, 172, 181, 182, 
184. 

Sill, Col., 228, 287, 309 313, 316, 334. 
Silliman, 176. 
Simms, 94, 95, 96. 
Slough, 100. 
Smith, Col., 232. 

Smith, Gen. E. K., 225, 290, 303, 333, 
334. 

Smith, J. Bryce, 27. 

Sonntag, August, 201. 

South, Sir James, 105, 107, 108, 109, 

110, 111, 112. 
Sparta, 303. 

Stanton, Secretary, 319, 343, 350. 
Stevenson, 276, 277, 285, 286, 302, 308, 

309, 312, 313, 316. 
St. Louis, 183. 
Storr, H., 54. 

Struve, 95, 107, 127, 143, 167, 169. 

Thayer, E. T., 20. 

Thomas, Gen. G. H., 223, 226, 230. 

Thomas, L. , 226. 

Torrence, G. P., 54. 

Troughton & Simms, 93, 97, 105. 

Turchin, Col., 235, 285. 

Tuscumbia, 302. 

Twitchell, 179, 186, 193, 203, 209, 386. 
Tyler, Pres't, 64, 70, 71. 

Ulm, 124. 

Utzschneider, 126, 197. 

Victoria, Queen, 104. 

Wadsworth, Gen., 354. 
Walker, S. C, 75. 
Warfield, Capt., 379. 
Washington, 62. 

Webster, Daniel, 62, 68, 69, 70, 71, 92. 

West Point, 17, 23, 78, 117, 201, 207, 208. 

Williams, J. C, 307, 379. 

Williams, M. G., 54. 

Williams, M. T., 54, 56. 

Winchester, 234, 274. 

Windsor, 101. 

Wood, Col., 261, 263. 

Woodburn, 250. 

Wren, 92. 

Xenia, 16, 59. 

Yates, Capt., 285. 

Zollicoffer, Gen., 212, 213, 220, 223, 226, 
234. 



